


Family of a different kind

by Avatarfanlin



Category: Avatar: Legend of Korra
Genre: F/F, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, adoptive kyalin, first post on this site, sex in chapters 1 and 2, young kyalin
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-26
Updated: 2018-08-15
Packaged: 2019-05-28 22:26:34
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 34,528
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15059135
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Avatarfanlin/pseuds/Avatarfanlin
Summary: Look, just read the first chapter and determine if you like it, because my summaries really don't do the story justice. please give this a chance.





	1. Chapter 1

Read and review.

* * *

 

At sixteen years of age, there was one thing that Lin Beifong cared about, sleep. Her mother on the other hand did not care what her daughter wanted, so when Toph opened up the bedroom door, she took off her meteorite bracelet and started bending it at her daughter's head, gently, much to Lin's annoyance. "Go, away."

"Nah, this is more fun."

"Mum, what are you doing?"

"Trying to wake up your sister. It's like trying to wake up your uncle Snoozles, very entertaining."

A smirk appeared on Su's face my kind of game. On the meteors return, Su reached out and with as much force that her bending allowed, redirected it into her sister's backside, resulting in a growl from Lin. "I win!"

"Su, I am going to kill you." Lin threw the blanket off, and took an intimidating step towards her annoying shit of a sister. "Yeah, you better run. Where are we going and why do I have to go?" She asked her mother as she began to get dressed.

Toph leaned against the door frame and folded her arms over her chest. "Air Temple Island, Kya offered to help Su with her hand to hand combat against waterbenders, I thought it would be good for her to get some experience and Katara agreed. You're coming along because you've become like a hermit and your room is starting to smell, it's like you died, shed your skin and then did it all over again for three months in a row. Will it kill you to open a window?"

"Thanks." Lin pulled her shirt over her head, and gave her mother a deadpanned look. "I guess I should come, it's been a while since I've trained."

"Yeah, I know, I can feel the pudge from here." Toph walked off, snickering to herself.

"It's not pudge, it's all muscle."

"Yeah, keep telling yourself that."

-

Su hit the ground with an oof for what seemed like the hundredth time in a row. "Oh come on mum! She's huge compared to me. I'm never going to win!"

"Toughen up princess. I was beating up full grown men, three times the size of Kya when I was your age." Toph stated while flinging a piece of toe jam in Katara's general direction.

Suppressing the urge to throw up, Katara rolled her eyes. "Yes, but you were using your bending, this is pure hand to hand. Kya is nineteen, a full grown woman, a child cannot beat her."

"Is that smugness I hear? Lin, get in there and do me proud!"

Looking up from the puddle of mud the young earthbender was playing with, she gave her mother a shrug. "Su can make you proud. She's doing fine out there." She held out a hand, gesturing to Su, who was currently in Kya's arms being kissed on the cheeks and flinging her legs out wildly. "Not a good example."

"Get in there, now!"

Kya dropped Su onto her feet when she saw the older Beifong taking off her shirt to reveal her bindings and 'pudgy' stomach. Tight, Kya thought to herself. "You're going down Beifong." Kya said through a smirk.

"Uh-huh." Lin stretched out her limbs before taking up a fighting stance, she eyed her opponent. "Go." Lin blocked and dodged as limbs were thrown at her. Biding her time, the young earthbender waited for her friend to swing wide, giving her the opportunity to land a shot to exposed ribs, causing her opponent to stumble backwards, allowing her to advance. A few kicks to her shins brought Kya to her knees. In a desperate act to save face, the small puddle Lin had her foot in was frozen, giving the waterbender an opportunity to attack.

A fist was flung, resulting in Lin to back flip and kick Kya in the chin, causing her teeth to slam together. "What the heck Lin!?"

A flash of concern appeared on the teenager's face before quickly dismissing it. "It was a fair shot."

"Okay, so that's how we're playing it." The waterbender's eyebrows narrowed as she jumped and kicked her leg out, only to have it caught mid-air under her opponent's armpit. Reaching out, she took hold of her shoulders and pulled herself closer before putting her foot behind Lin's and pushed forward with all her body weight, causing them to go crashing to the ground.

"Shit." Lin clutched her chest where Kya's knee had landed and heaved. "That bloody hurt."

"Sorry." Kya helped her friend back to her feet. "But it was a fair shot."

"Bullshit." Reaching for the puddle of mud she was playing with earlier, she threw it in Kya's face, earning her a growl. Next thing she knew, she was being tackled into a mud river, which was once a stream. "Ugh, Kya!"

"Admit it," Kya said, as she tried to pin the earthbender's arms above her head, letting out a sigh of relief when she succeeded, "that kick earlier was not a fair shot."

"Yes it was and you can't make me say it wa-" Lin was silenced by a pair of lips on hers, it was unexpected to say the least, but quickly she found herself relaxing into the kiss and reacting to it, allowing her tongue to enter her friend's mouth.

"Alright Kya, I think she's had enough." Toph flicked a bit of ear wax at her youngest daughter. "I think you can take her Su, Lin was winning until Kya cheated with that bit of ice."

Katara scoffed. "That was fair. Girls, go wash up and get dressed, I'll spar with Su and then we can eat."

Snatching up her shirt, Lin stomped towards the women's bathhouse, with Kya trying to keep up behind her. "Lin, wait up."

"Leave me alone Kya." Lin pushed open the door to the empty showers, leaving it to slam in Kya's face.

"Oh come on Lin, just talk to me. What did I do?"

Lin whirled around to face her friend as she angrily took off her boots and threw them against the opposing wall. "You kissed me! That's what."

"Is that all?" Kya let out a sigh of relief as she too began to undress. "For a second there, I thought I had hurt you."

Lin entered one of the stalls and turned on the water, not even caring that it wasn't warm yet, she took her place under it, sighing when the cold water washed over her bruised chest. "You know I like Tenzin. You kissing me, it was, it was-"

"It was just a sparring match." Kya entered the stall next to her friend and shot her a sad look. "and it's not like it's the first time I have kissed you in a match."

"I know that." Lin let her demeanour relax. "I just- when you used to kissed me, we were just kids, but now we're older and I don't think friends should be kissing the way that we did."

Kya let out a sigh. "You're right. I'm sorry for kissing you. I'll try to restrain myself next time." Kya turned her head to her friend to see her face scrunch up, then relax. "What are you doing?"

"I think you broke my ribs. You didn't exactly go easy on me out there."

"Yeah, says the one who kicked me in the face." Kya turned off her water and leaned over the side of the stall to get a better view. "It's starting to go purple."

"No shit professor Zei. I'll get Katara to heal it for me before I go home."

"Why don't I just do it?"

Lin blushed, grateful that the heat of the water had turned her skin red. "Because I don't want you to see me naked."

"I'm a professional healer Lin."

"In training."

Kya ignored the comment. "And I'm watching you right now. You don't have anything that I haven't seen before." When her friend didn't respond, the young waterbender took it as permission and entered her stall. Kya gathered some of the water from the shower head and brought it to her friend's chest where her knee had landed earlier. She felt Lin shudder and relax under her touch. "I didn't break anything but you will be sore for a few days. Sorry by the way."

Lin met her gaze with a smirk. "It's alright. It was a fair shot."

A minute of silence passed between the two until the liquid no longer glowed. Kya turned off the water and exited the stall, Lin right behind her. With a flick of her wrist, any excess moisture was removed from their bodies. "Come on, you can borrow some of my clothes and I'll put your dirty ones in a bag."

Lin put on her old ones and scrunched up her nose at the smell. "I appreciate it, this is the worst smelling mud in the world."

"… It wasn't mud."

-

Lin and Kya entered the Avatar family's dining room, plopped down and helped themselves to the bowl of fruit on the table.

"The blue looks lovely on you Lin."

"Thanks aunt Katara." Lin looked down at the dark blue tank, with matching baggy pants, "I was just grateful for anything that fit, after today's disgusting events of course."

"Yeah, sorry about that, Sokka was experimenting with the pipes and, well not all pipes lead to the ocean."

Lin shrugged. "It's okay. I guess, shit, happens."

"Don't swear."

"Sorry."

"Hey Kya," the waterbender looked down to her left at the youngest of the Beifong clan and gave her a sweet smile that only she could give, "I beat Katara and she's a lot better fighter than you."

"Is that so?" Kya looked over to her mother who quietly drank a glass of water. "Losing your touch are we mum?"

"Shut up Kya."

"Language."

"Shut up Lin."

-

Lin and Toph walked next to each other, occasionally bumping shoulders as they dawdled down the footpath to the docks, while Su skipped ahead of them, picking a flower here and there.

Do I like her? Of course I like her, we're friends and friends like each other… Lin was brought out of her thoughts when an arm found itself around her shoulder. "She's really got you for a spin, doesn't she?"

Lin looked up at her mother in confusion, not that she would know. "What are you on about?"

Toph lightly punched her in the shoulder. "What's going through your head?"

"Tenzin." Lin breathed.

"Wait, is he the reason you barely leave your room anymore?"

"Mhm." Lin looked out to Republic City, the sight never failed to amaze her. "I like him mum, but I don't think I like, like him."

"What bought this on?"

"I dunno, I've just been thinking about it these last couple of months and I think I need to tell him before he gets hurt."

Toph slapped her daughter on the back. "Congrats Lin."

"For what?"

"For realising that you are allowed to put yourself first every now and then." Toph placed her arm around her daughter's shoulder, bringing her in close. "Whoever you choose, just know that your happiness does matter and don't settle for someone who doesn't feel the same way. Whoever you choose, just know that I'm open to anything."

Before Lin could question her on what she meant, the one man she dreaded walked up the pier steps with a smile on his face. "Hello Lin, you look lovely in the blue!"

Lin's heart broke at what was about to come.

"I'll see you at home badgermole. We'll have to talk about this over a drink." Toph gave them a lazy wave as her youngest daughter took her by the hand to lead her to the boat.

-

"And just like that, it's over before it even began."

"I'm sorry Tenzin, I just couldn't do this to us anymore. We both deserve so much more."

Tenzin let out a groan as he flopped back down onto the grass, away from the cliff that overlooked the sparse ocean before them. "Can I at least know why? Maybe I could fix the problem."

"Trust me, this is something you can't fix." Lin drew her knees to her chest. "You want different things in life than what I want."

"But I'm an airbender, holding onto desire is something we are taught not to do. Surely I can change."

Lin turned towards him, a scowl on her face. "This is something you can't let go of. Tenzin, I don't want kids and…" she looked away, "There's someone else."

"What?!" With a gust of wind quickly expelling from him, Tenzin sat up, his face red. "Do I know them?! What do they have that I don't?"

"You know who they are. But nothing has really happened between us. I mean we've kissed but that's it. They're amazing and smart, and they get me in no way anyone else can… and I understand them too. At least I think I do." Lin stood up and shoved her hands into her pockets, with Tenzin following suit. "I'm sorry Tenzin, I thought that you and I had something special but today, I learned that I was in love with the idea of being with someone, not the actual person." Lin looked away as a tear escaped her eye. "I hope we can still be friends."

Tenzin's hurt vanished at seeing his friend, who is usually like a brick wall when it comes to anything resembling emotions, finally crack. He pulled her into his embrace and gave her a tight hug. "Of course we are. Nothing could come between you and I." He pulled back and lifted her chin with his index finger. Wiping away the tear, he leaned down and gave her a chaste kiss on the forehead. "I hope that one day, I get to meet this amazing person who finally managed to figure you out."

Lin laughed and slugged him in the shoulder. "Thanks airhead. You want to give me a lift home?"

"Of course. What are friends for?"

The two friends walked away, completely unaware of the waterbender who was currently floating in the water below.

-

"Okay, I start work late tomorrow, Su is at a friends and you have been quiet all week, more so than usual." Silence overcame the two as the older Beifong opened the cupboard above the stove and pulled out two glasses and a bottle of Fire Nation whiskey. "I'm only sixteen."

"I know, but I told you last week that we would talk about your problems over a drink." Toph plopped down next to her daughter. "On three, drink and don't cough it up. Three."

Lin did what she was told but struggled not to spit the substance out of her mouth as soon as it hit her tongue. "Flameo! How can you drink that stuff?"

"Years of practise." She poured them another drink each. Which they downed, then another, and another until they both had five drinks in their system. "Okay, I think that will help. Now tell me what's got your nickers in a knot?"

Lin's head moved back and forth, heavy with alcohol. "They're not in a knot, how would they ever do that? Did you know Su got detention because I do, and detective Shen, Scheen? Chen? I can't remember but I saw him buying lily weed last week from some boys at school. You'd think he could just take it from the evidence locker like everyone else. Have you caught who was selling it ye-"

"Great," Toph's voice was laced with sarcasm, "you're a talkative drunk. Tell me about you and Twinkle Toes Junior."

"Ohhh, things have been so awkward between us." Lin took the glass in front of her and shot it, to which her mother quickly re-filled.

"Why?"

"I told him I'm not into him anymore and that there's someone else. He said we were still friends but I think he's lying. That or he really doesn't know how to handle what's happened."

Toph's interest piqued. "Hold up, who is the someone else?"

Lin laughed and drank the liquid in front of her. "I'm not telling you," she uncharacteristically giggled, "you're my mum."

"Well tonight, just think of me as your buddy." Toph poured her another drink, smiling when she felt it disappear. "Who do you like Badgermole?"

"I can't tell you who she is."

There it was, a lead. The detective in her loved little bits of information her perps gave her without their knowing. "So it's a she. Is that why you didn't want to tell me?"

"Maaaaaaaaaaaybe." Lin laughed. "She's really pretty mum, I know that you can't see her so you wouldn't know but she is really pretty, prettier than aunt Katara, I have no idea where Kya got her good looks from but she is really pretty."

"AH –HA! So it is Kya!"

Lin gasped. "How the flameo did you figure you out? Me out? It out?"

"You gave it away and all it took was nine drinks!" Toph poured two drinks and held one in her hands, gesturing for Lin to do the same. "To new love." Lin barely managed to make contact with her mother's drink before swallowing it and then collapsing onto the kitchen table with a snore. Toph stood up from her spot at the table and patted her daughter on the back. "You're gonna have to learn to hold your liquor Badgermole, good luck with the hangover."

-

The morning sunlight flowed into the open kitchen, the birds tweeted as they usually did in the morning, signalling to everyone in Republic City that the day had begun. With a groan, Su got out of bed and made her way to the bathroom sink so that she could prepare herself for her favourite thing in the world, school. "One day, this will all be over." After having brushed her teeth, combed her hair, and gotten dressed in her uniform, Su meandered into the kitchen to find her sister still collapsed over the kitchen table. "Lin?" Her heart rate increased a little when she failed to get a response but settled down when a lease than flattery snore escaped the sleeping teen.

"I knew it" Su walked over to Lin and shook her shoulder gently. "Wake up, you're gonna be late for school."

"Ef off Su. I'm tired and I don't feel well."

"Fine, but I'm going to tell mum."

"Go for it, it's her fault anyway. What are you doing home? I thought you were at a friend's house."

"That's just what I told mum, I snuck into the house this morning."

The front door to their home opened to reveal Tenzin in his uniform. His face was scrunched up as he picked the stiff, black, clothing out of his bum. "I swear this is Kya's old uniform, it pinches in all the wrong places. Are you two ready for school?"

"I am but Lin is sick." She gestured to her sister, just as the older Beifong emptied the contents of her stomach onto the kitchen floor. "LIN! That is disgusting!"

Tenzin took a deep breath as he walked over to his friend and guided her out of the seat and to the couch. "Lin, there are very few things your mother loves in this world, and that couch is one of them, please don't throw up on it."

Lin cracked open an eye but quickly shut it when light made contact with her pupil. "Ugh, I need a healer… and a shower. I feel disgusting"

"I'll call mum, I can't help you with the shower thing though." Tenzin left the room for a minute and returned with a glass of water. "Drink this, it will make you feel better. I'll take Su to school. Do you want me to do anything else?"

"Just leave me alone." Lin turned her head away from him, burying it in the black upholstery of the couch.

"Alright, feel better soon." And with that, Lin was finally alone.

-

"Lin?" Kya cautiously opened Lin's bedroom window as she had done multiple times in the past. "She really needs to open her window more often, smells like something died in here." The waterbender went out to the lounge room where she found her friend asleep on the couch. She looks so cu- her thought process was interrupted when a stale smell hit her full force. She followed it to the kitchen where she found two glasses and an empty bottle of whiskey in the sink. "Looks like aunt Toph finally taught you the way of the Beifong." Turning on the tap, Kya bent the water to the puke on the floor and waited for it to be absorbed before directing it down the drain.

Kya walked back to the lounge room and opened the doors that led out to the backyard, hoping to clear out the smell. She sauntered over to Lin and gave out a sigh as she knelt down next to the hungover teen she cared so much about. She reached out to the water that was in a glass on the side table and waited for it to glow before pressing it to Lin's back, searching for her kidney's and liver. "Crap Lin, how much did you drink?"

"Ngh, you're not Katara."

"Your system hasn't finished processing it yet. I'm going to get it through you system but you may need to pee soon."

Kya had barely finished before Lin bolted upright and ran into the bathroom. A minute later, Lin returned, bags under her eyes, a puke stain on the black tank top she wore. "My stomach wants to kill itself and take me with it."

Kya motioned for Lin to lay down and rest her head on her lap. "This may burn a little but it's best that you relax and trust me."

The earthbender's eyes closed and her eyebrows furrowed together. "Of course I trust you."

Kya raked her fingers over her friend's stomach, searching for any liquid and bile in it. "Relax." Kya could feel that she had gathered it all and began directing it up her throat and out her mouth, struggling when Lin began to gag on it, then quickly threw it into the kitchen sink. "All done."

"That. Was. Horrible." She sat up and swung her legs over to the side. "What are you doing here?"

"Tenzin called and said you weren't well. I had no idea, goody two shoes Beifong, was hungover. This is one thing I will never forget."

"Great." Lin moaned as she leaned forward onto her hands. "I need a shower, I feel gross."

"Alright. I'll help you out." Kya wrapped her arm around Lin's torso and lifted her to her feet. "A shower will do you good anyway... so will brushing your teeth."  


They made their way into the family bathroom, where a walk in shower stood proud. Kya turned on the taps and waited for the water to get just right before tugging Lin's shirt over her head. A solemn mood took place between the two teens. Lin looked into Kya's beautiful blue eyes that were currently looking up at her from their position at her waist band. She kicked off her pants and underwear, and tossed them to the side before helping her friend to her feet. "I like you." The words were quiet coming from Lin's mouth.

"Sorry, did you say something?"

"I," Lin looked up to the ceiling, anywhere but Kya's eyes, "like you."

Kya smirked and gave her a smouldering gaze. "I know, now get under the water before you catch a cold, I'm going to get you some fresh clothes."  


"Umm, okay." Lin turned on her heel and walked into the shower with slouched shoulders, a cloud over her head.  


The waterbender walked across the hallway into Lin's bedroom and the familiar smell of dirty socks hit her like a brick reminding her of  Bumi's room.  Kya couldn't resist as she began to tidy up the bedroom. She picked up what must have been twenty sweaty black tank tops, twelve pairs of dirty underwear and thirty pairs of disgusting, yellow crusted socks, and ten dirt covered bindings.  I know what I'm getting you for your birthday, a fire to burn everything.  After throwing everything into a laundry basket, Kya opened the window and breathed in the fresh summer air. "Much better."

Rummaging through Lin's draws, Kya was not surprised to find more black tanks. "Of course." She grabbed a fresh pair of pants, underwear and top before walking back into the bathroom to see Lin furiously scrubbing at her teeth.

"I can still taste it."

"I have some mint leaves if you want them."

"I'll have some when I finish."

Kya leaned against the glass shower. "You like me huh?"

"Mm, yeah. I kind of realised it last week during our sparring session. I thought that now would be a good time to tell you, seeing as how I'm still a tad drunk… wait how did you know I like you?"

"Hmm?"

"Earlier, I told you I liked you, you said 'I know,' how did you know?"

"I heard you talk to Tenzin. It was nice of you to let him know." There was silence. "I like you too by the way."

Lin relaxed, her fears were now gone and she allowed herself to smile.

"Have you washed yet?"

"I have no strength in my arms to do so." Lin looked away as a blush crossed her face. "You could help me if you want."

Kya smirked and began to undress, tantalisingly slow as she started with her top, then her bindings, rolling the bandage as she went. She watched as the woman in the shower couldn't keep her eyes off her chest. Filling her with bravado, Kya reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a couple of mint leaves and held them in-between her teeth before taking off her pants. She sauntered into the shower and lifted Lin's chin so that they locked eyes and then she leaned down. Their lips met, the leaves tickled them gently as Kya pushed them softly into the earthbender's mouth with her tongue. The waterbender couldn't resist as she took Lin's lower lip into her mouth and sucked on it gently, she released it slowly, licking the swollen lip lightly and then she pulled back, smirking when she saw the dumb look on the younger woman's face.

"Umm, yum." Lin chewed the leaves, grateful when they took the taste of bile away. She turned around and reached for the wash cloth but it was quickly snatched from her grasp. She attempted to turn around but a firm hand on her shoulder kept her where she was. "Wha-"

"Just, stand there." Kya draped the wash cloth over her hand and started at the nape of the earthbender's neck, scrubbing gently. She made her way down to sculpted shoulder blades and with a little force, pushed Lin forward, causing her to brace herself on the wall in front of her. "Don't move."

Moulding their bodies together, Kya lightly ran her empty hand over Lin's arm tracing the defined lines in her forearms. Her fingertips lightly danced themselves towards the strong earthbender's back and stroked all the way down to her bum. Kya grabbed the white cheeks and brought their hips tightly together and pushed Lin against the wet shower wall. Holding Lin there with her own body, the older teen reached around and gently massaged the outside of Lin's breasts.

Kya pulled back slightly to turn the hot and bothered earthbender around so that they were now facing each other. Kya latched her teeth onto Lin's neck. She kissed and nibbled until the entire side of the neck was red from marks.

A kiss on top of her right breast, the left one, a bite below the right. A nipple twirled between two fingers and the only sound is heavy breathing.

Lin's legs are weak, the only reason she hasn't fallen over is because of the wall behind her and Kya in front of her, the desire is raging and she feels her own wetness dripping.

Kya is holding both her nipples as she kisses her way down Lin's stomach to her hips, she can feel Kya's tongue as it runs from her pelvis to her hip. Her mind is cloudy and her knees are beyond wobbly.

Kya pulls away and looks up at her.

"Wha-?"

"Lin, do you want this? I know this is your first time and we are in a dirty shower so tell me. Do you want this?"

Lin looked at her in confusion.

"Lin…"

"Kya, I love you and I don't want to do this with anyone else other than you, so stop teasing me already."

Kya smirked and grabbed one of Lin's knees to bring it over her shoulder. Lin only blushed and looked away before Kya catches her eyes. She places her hand on Lin's leg and gently massage's her way up, still holding her gaze. Kya watches as Lin takes a sharp breath when she reaches her folds. Kya gently strokes her before bringing her wet fingers to her lips, spreading them gently. Lin shuddered at the feeling of the hot breath at her centre. Kya's tongue began to probe her, rubbing her inner folds gently. She held her there with her hands on her backside, her mouth on her clit, licking gently as she did, causing Lin to let out a moan followed by a hiss. "Oh spirits!"

This spurred Kya on. She slipped a finger in, smiling to herself when she felt Lin clench around the digit. She doubled her efforts on the clit, tasting as much of her as she could. Her hands came around and flattened themselves on the strong bender's stomach where she could feel the muscle flexing and relaxing in time with her tongue's movements. Then she came with a low growl that one would expect from a Beifong but what many didn't get to hear, which made her feel privileged.

Standing from her place on the floor, Kya smiled to herself when Lin slumped into her arms. "Spirits Kya, what did we just do?"

"I think I made the hangover disappear."

"Ugh, that's not what I meant." Lin pushed herself off Kya and back onto her feet.  "Friends don't get each other off like that."

"Oh," Kya raised an eyebrow, drawing patterns over Lin's torso with a smirk, "how do they get each other off then?"

"I dunno, but when people… do it, they're not friends."

"Well I guess we're not friends then. Maybe we're girlfriends."

"Girlfriends?"

"Yes, when a girl likes a girl, they are called girlfriends."

"Huh, so, you and I are together?"

Kya rested her forehead against Lin's. "Only if you want to. I won't force you into anything."

Lin smiled. "Okay, we're girlfriends then."

Kya gave her a quick kiss and turned off the water. "Come on, let's get you to bed. You look like a drowned sewer rat."

"Wow, thanks." Lin began to get dressed, starting with her undies and then pants, she was about to put on her bindings when strong tanned hands stopped her. "What?"

"Leave it off. I like feeling flesh when I sleep."

-

Even though the sleep was only four hours long, it was the best sleep Lin had ever had. She awoke to a topless Kya snuggled into her chest, a hand on each other's breast. She could stay like this forever. Lin looked over to the clock on her nightstand and saw it was three in the afternoon,  Su will be home soon.

"What's wrong love?"

Lin jumped at the sound of the woman on top of her, but quickly relaxed when she snuggled deeper into her side. "Nothing."

"Word of advice, don't lie to your girlfriend. It will not end well for you." Kya turned her head and looked up at her girlfriend's beautiful emerald eyes, through her own tousled brown hair. "Now what's wrong?"

Lin motioned to the clock on the nightstand. "Su will be home in ten minutes, we need to get up and dressed."

"Ah, dreaded younger sister category one. I get it." Kya pushed herself off the bed and reached up to stretch slowly before getting dressed. "Also, I would appreciate it if you didn't go blabbing about us to people. You can tell Toph if you want but that's only because she knows about me."

Lin cocked an eyebrow. "I thought your parents knew."

"Nope. They think me kissing people in fights is just me messing around. It's not that I'm fearful of telling them, I just hate all the questions. The only reason your mum knows is because she caught me in a car making out with someone… naked."

Lin rolled her eyes. "Are there any cops who haven't seen you naked?"

-

Lin and Kya sat at the dinner table, laughing over pieces of fruit. "I can't believe you did that!"

"Hey! He tried to rob me, he deserved to be frozen to that wall."

"Yeah, but without pants?! You do know what ice does to a man, right?"

Kya laughed as she popped a piece of fruit into her new girlfriend's mouth. "I hope this never has to e-" before she could even finish, Toph and Su strolled into the home. "I spoke too soon."

"Hey, Chief."

"Hey. How are you feeling?"

"Much better. Can Kya stay for dinner?"

Toph took off her uniform, letting it fall where she stood. "I think she should go home actually. I need to talk to you."

"Oooooh, I told you you would be in trouble." Su smirked as she stole the piece of fruit in her sister's hand.

Kya stood and wiped the juices from her mouth. "That's alright. I have med training tomorrow anyway so I should be getting home." She turned to her girlfriend and gave her a wink. "I'll see you later Lin."

"Yeah, see you later." Lin couldn't hide the disappointment in her voice as she watched the woman leave.

"So," Toph kicked her feet up onto the table as she sat down, "What are you making for dinner?"

-

"Su's asleep." Said Lin, as she took a seat on the couch next to her mother. "Now what did you want to talk to me about?"  


"You and Kya. What did you two do today?"  


"Nothing."  


"I thought you would have learned by now not to lie to me." Toph took her feet off the coffee table and sat up. "What did you do  today?" Toph said, putting emphasis on the word 'do'.  


Lin began to sweat under her mother's sightless gaze,  how did she know?  "We had sex..." silence, "in the shower. She was helping me clean up and one thing led to another, the next thing I know we were making out and then she was on her kne-"  


"Spirits! Stop! I did not want to hear all that! I wanted to know if you guys talked! In the shower?! Why would you have sex in the shower?"  


"I don't know! Convenience?!"  


"What's so convenient about it?!"  


"Well... we're both naked for starters."  


Toph groaned. "I'm starting to wish you chose Tenzin, at least I didn't have to worry about him sleeping with you. He's such a lily liver. Okay, let's start from the beginning, before you made the shower unusable. Did you guys talk?"

"Yeah." She couldn't help but smirk. "And we're… girlfriends."

"That," Toph smiled, "is awesome. I'm happy for you Badgermole. I hope she makes you happy. I think this calls for a drink."

"None for me."

"Who said anything about you?"

-

"Okay Kya, this one is a bit deep so what you want to do is clean it first, good job, now heal as much as you can and then stitch it closed."

Kya smiled when her teacher patted her on the back after the patient had left. "Thanks doc."

"Not a problem. I have to say, I think you may be my best student yet, maybe when all this is over you can work at my clinic." The doctor was an old man from the Fire Nation. He was tall and lean with a stubble that was greying with age. Glasses hung on the tip of his nose, obscuring his golden eyes that were a trait of those from his home. "We do great work in the city and there are so many avenues you can take."

"I appreciate it. So how often do you volunteer at the Police Department?"

The doctor shrugged as he finished washing his hands. "As often as I can. I see us as comrades. They do a good job protecting people and we do a good job healing them. We complement each other."

"That's a good way to look at it." Kya nodded

"Alright, I'm going to go grab us some tea from the cafeteria. Hold down the fort."

"Aye aye." Kya sat down in the office chair, looking over the cases that they had treated earlier in the day, double checking that the treatments they conducted was the right course of action, when the door opened and closed gently. The waterbender wasn't given a chance before someone grabbed her by the scruff of her shirt and threw her against the wall face first. Her heart was racing, as she tried to push against her attacker. "Who, are, you. What do you, ngh, want?"

"I'm your worst nightmare, your girlfriend's mother."

"Aunt Toph?!" Kya's chest was heaving, the white lab coat she wore hung off her shoulders loosely, constricting her movement. Her eyes darted from left to right, trying to get a look at her attacker's eyes. "What are you, ugh, doing?"

"Interrogation." Toph leaned in close so that her breath was on Kya's neck. "What do you think you're doing with Lin?"

"Dating her?"

Toph frowned. "Wrong answer." She spun the waterbender around and placed her metal clad forearm against her neck, pushing her up against the wall so that she had to stand on her tippy toes. "You don't get it, Kya," her voice was dangerously low, no sign of the fun loving woman she had come to know, "Lin isn't your average girl. You can't just fuck her and expect everything to be okay when things get rough. Lin is hard headed, brash and would give her life to save anyone she meets and one day, she will crack. I want to make sure you can handle that. I don't want to come home and find my daughter crying in a corner with a bottle of booze contemplating suicide, I won't let you do that to her. So, you are going to tell me what you're going to do when things get rough."

"I honestly don't know." Kya pushed against the metalbender's arm hoping to get an inch to breathe but it didn't budge. "I actually do care about her. It's no secret I get around, but I left them all because they weren't Lin. She is all I ever wanted and that's the truth. I know she isn't an average girl, she's everything but average. She gives so much of herself and never expects anything back but I plan to make sure she receives everything she deserves and more, because I have been in love with her since we were kids. When she does eventually crack, I will be there to keep her grounded, I will hold her up." Kya narrowed her eyes at the woman in front of her. "I love her and I plan on loving her until I die."

Toph held her there for a second longer before dropping the woman in her grasp. "I'll track you down if you do anything to hurt her. I guarantee it."

"I know you will." Kya rubbed her neck, making sure there wasn't any damage. "Now, do you have an appointment?"

"I do actually." Toph straightened up, acting as though nothing had occurred between the two, she removed her armour. "I have this blister on my shoulder and puss keeps leaking out."


	2. Chapter 2

"We should travel."

Lin cracked an eye open to glance over at her girlfriend lying next to her on the cliff overlooking Republic City. "Why?"

"Well," Kya absentmindedly picked at the grass, allowing it to blow in the cool night breeze, "in a couple months, you will start your officer training, and I will start work as a professional healer at my mentor's clinic, you graduated school last month and we never truly celebrated, I also feel that a holiday could bring us closer." Kya rolled over on her side and began stroking Lin's abdomen, smiling to herself when she made her jump from the ticklish sensation. "And we won't have to hide who we are."

"But I like sneaking around your parents, it's fun." She went to kiss her girlfriend, her lips were only met with air. Lin sighed as she sat up to wrap an arm around Kya's lower back. "You okay?"

"No." Kya let herself fall into the strong arms that made her feel safe on more than one occasion. "We've been together for a year but the only person who knows about us is your mother."

"And officer Thu."

Kya allowed herself to smirk at the memory however it quickly turned into a frown. "That's not the point. I just want a chance to feel normal."

"We could tell your parents."

"Mum would freak and dad's never around for me to tell him."

"Come on Kya, I know your mum is a tad traditional but you have to give the woman some credit. If it goes badly, you can stay with my family."

"Maybe," Kya sighed, "but I don't want to tell her."

"You sound like a child. Where's my big strong waterbender when I need her?"

Kya's sweet smile returned to her face as she forced her lover onto her back before straddling her. "About to make you see stars."

"We're outside and it's night, I alread-" Lin was cut off when a hand grabbed her right breast unexpectedly. "Kya, we shouldn't do this on the island, let's go back to mine."

"Mm, but I want you," a low growl rumbled in her throat, "right now."

It didn't take much for Lin's defences to fall thanks to the hot mouth currently nibbling on her ear. "Spirits I hate you." The earthbender flipped them over and quickly sat up to remove her own shirt, leaving her in bindings. She crawled down her lover's body so that she could hoist up the skirt to her waist. "I take that back." Lin's eyes glistened with desire at the sight before her. She couldn't resist as she reached down with her pinkie and entered her girlfriend with it.

"Tease."

Lin growled and pulled her girlfriend onto her lap so that she was sitting on her hand. It was different but exciting. She slipped in a second finger and watched as Kya rose up and down on her fingers. Just as Kya was about to sit back down, Lin held up another finger, smiling to herself when the woman above her moaned and sped up her movements, rolling her hips as she went. And then she withdrew them quickly, when a crash was heard just beyond the tree line. Both women slowly turned their heads to find the one person that intimated them more than anything in the world. "Shit."

Kya stood up and pulled her lover to her feet. "Katara, it's not what it looks like." Lin's voice trembled, she was not a liar.

"Go home Lin."

"N-"

"Do as she says." Sadness filled Lin's eyes when she looked at her girlfriend who was currently staring at the ground, tears threatening to fall. "Don't make this harder than it has to be."

"I'll wait up for you." With a quick squeeze of Kya's hand, Lin grabbed her shirt and began her trek to the docks, not looking at the older waterbender as she passed.

Katara waited until they were out of earshot before talking in a low tone. "What do you think you're doing?!" She remained silent. "Do you have any idea, what this does to our family? The embarrassment! It's completely unnatural and you did it on my home."

"It wasn't unnatural," Kya raised her head, finally finding her voice, her fire, "it was love and love isn't embarrassing. Dad would hav-"

"Would have what?" Katara took a step closer so that they were now standing toe to toe, eye to eye. "He's not here right now and when he's not here, I am in charge of the island."

"Yeah, that was his biggest mistake, even bigger than when he vanished during the war." Kya's mind was freaking out, she knew she hit a nerve but there was no stopping, not when she was on this line of thought. Everything she had ever believed growing up could now be said. "Nobody likes an over opinionated person around! Who are you to tell me who I love? There are no laws out there, just your stupid way of life that you grew up with in a dingy little village in the middle of nowhere! I'm not a part of it, I'm part Air Nation and dad always said we could love whoever we wanted."

"Well he's not here! He's off gallivanting around the world with the only person who is actually a part of the Air Nation and where did he leave you?! At home because you know and I know that you will never be seen as an Air Nomad in your father's eyes." Katara was angry and she wasn't going to hold anything back. "You will never be part of it."

Kya's voice hitched. "I'm done." She turned to walk away but a hand stopped her.

"Kya I'm-" Katara's voice had lost much of its edge but it was too late, a fist collided with her face and she went careening to the ground.

"Don't you dare touch me! Only Lin gets to touch me. She loves me unlike you." Kya left her mother lying on the ground and ran back to the house, dodging acolytes as she went. She made it to her bedroom, heart racing in panic. She stuffed some clothes in the rucksack her uncle had gotten her for her birthday. Her hands shook when she closed the bag. The adrenaline hadn't tapered off, driving her to let her impulse take over.

"Shit." Kya groaned when she realised the ferry wouldn't be making a trip to the city for another hour. Then it dawned on her what she needed to do. She grabbed the bedroll under her bed and clipped it onto her rucksack. "Lin will understand."

Lin paced back and forth in her room. It was late at night, her mother was passed out on the couch, her sister was in her own bedroom doing homework and her lover was on her own, facing her worst nightmare. She was brought out of her thoughts by her window sliding open. "Kya, are you okay?"

The waterbender finished climbing through the window and turned to face Lin, tears streaming down her face, though she tried to smile through it, wiping the tears away furiously. "Are you ready to go on our vacation?"

Lin looked at her incredulously. "What? Kya, what happened?"

"Where's your bag." Kya began rummaging around her girlfriend's closet. "It's warm in the Earth Kingdom, so you need light clothing, maybe a jacket or two for cold nights." Her shaking hands were stopped by warm, steady, calloused ones. "Please we need to go. No questions?"

"Kya, I can't just leave like this, you need to tell me what's going on."

The waterbender gave up her façade and broke down in her girlfriend's arms. "She said I was an embarrassment, that what we had was unnatural and that I'm not, I'm not a part of the Air Nation."

"You're right, it does get hot in the Earth Kingdom." Lin held her tightly. Taking in a deep breath Lin kissed her on the top of her head and pulled back. "Do you know where we are going in the Earth Kingdom exactly?"

"Anywhere we want," The waterbender wiped her nose, watching as Lin packed her bag, "I have an Air Bison waiting in your backyard, and we can live off the land like uncle Sokka taught us, we can be happy out there." There was a loud bang at the door, causing the two women to jump. "We need to go." Lin quickly went to the bookshelf in her room and grabbed the cash she kept in a hollowed out book, before starting towards the window.

"Kya! I know you're in there! Come out so I can talk to you!"

Toph let out a groan as she placed her feet on the ground. She sighed when she felt her eldest daughter packing and the large beast in her backyard. "Great, the fucking princess found out." Toph took her time while she made her way to the door, scratching her bum casually. Her trademark smirk crept its way onto her face when she opened up the door. "Can I help you sweetness?"

"Toph! I need to speak to Kya." Katara attempted to push past the Chief of Police but a strong hand on her chest kept her at bay.

"Mum," Su poked her head out of her room to see what was happening but was ignored.

"Slow down." Toph could feel the two girls climbing out of the window just a few more seconds. "Now tell me what's happened."

"I don't have time! I said something horrible and I need to fix it!"

She felt the panic in her friend's heart, there was no malice in her voice, she truly wanted to fix whatever had happened between her and her only daughter, Toph had been in her position before and could understand what Katara was going through, enough so that the smirk disappeared from the earthbender's face. "Okay." Toph followed her friend out to the backyard, her youngest daughter close behind. They made it outside just in time to see the Bison take off.

"Kya! Stop!" A tear escaped her when her daughter didn't even look back, choosing to fly away. "What have I done?"

Toph placed a hand on the waterbender's shoulder to lead her back inside to the couch. They sat down, with Suyin taking a seat next to her mother on the arm rest. "Tell me what happened."

Katara buried her face in her hands. "Oh, Toph, I found out something horrible and I don't know how to tell you."

"Lin and Kya are dating." Toph offered nonchalantly.

Katara looked up at her old friend, a scowl on her face. "You knew?"

"Yeah, I knew from day one, but I've known since Kya was a little girl that she didn't like boys. They've been dating for a year."

"Why didn't you tell me?" Su asked from her position on the arm rest.

"It isn't my place to tell." Toph shrugged. "Spirits, why am I the one getting grilled like a perp? I just offered them a chance to be themselves. You know that all I wanted for my kids was for them to be happy and I've never felt Lin's heart beat as fast as when she's with Kya. They love each other so much."

"Who else knows?" Katara asked, trying to regain her friend's attention.

"Just myself and Sokka… and one or two officers."

"My own brother knew. I feel like such an idiot."

Toph let out a small chuckle. "He only knows because I asked him if I made the right parenting choice. I like to feel validated in my parenting choices. They don't know he knows and that's the way I think they would have wanted it. So what caused my no nonsense daughter to run away?"

Katara let out a groan. "Toph, I said something horrible to Kya. Something I don't think she will ever forgive me for." Katara looked away in shame. "I told her that she wasn't a part of the Air Nation."

Silence. Toph was trying to form words in her head but before she could, her daughter erupted from the spot next to her. "You what?!"

"Su I don't think you shoul-"

"Why would you tell her such a thing?!"

"We were both yelling! I was ashamed to find her with Lin doing something they shouldn't have been doing in the first pla-"

Within a blink of an eye, Suyin's fist was millimetres from the waterbender's face, only to be stopped by her mother's tight grasp. "Su, I think you should go to bed."

"I'm not done!"

"Nah, I think you are. Go on. I'll be in there soon to tuck you in."

Suyin narrowed her green eyes at the woman she once admired and thought of as a second mother. "I hope you get what you deserve."

Toph and Katara waited for the door to slam shut before resuming talking. "It was hard for me to stop her you know. I wanted the kid to knock you down and kick you where it hurts."

"Kya already did that earlier." Katara sighed and rubbed her jaw. "I guess I'm still not over the shock."

"And what's so shocking about it? They aren't the first same sex couple and they won't be the last. The only people who have a problem with it, is those from the Northern and Southern tribes. This is Republic City, a place where people get to be themselves, that's why we made this city."

"I know! Spirits," Katara let out a deep breath, "I know. It's just hard growing up knowing one thing from another and then being expected to change those beliefs on a whim. I don't know how you guys do it."

"Well for starters, when your child says they hate you, you can't say 'I hate you' back, you have to be the grownup and deal with it. We just accept it. We think, 'this is happening, ask a few questions that will make you feel okay with it and move on.'"

"What kind of questions?"

"I dunno, what questions would you ask Kya right now if she were here?"

Katara looked down at her hands. "Why didn't she tell me?"

Toph leaned forward slightly, to show she was truly paying attention. "I don't know if I can answer that one. Perhaps it's because she was afraid of what you might say to her. Or that you just might not care. Bumi and Kya have grown up with you and Aang doting on Tenzin that maybe she was worried that you would ask too many questions, which would be something she is not used to. But that's just my guess as a detective."

Katara leaned back, taking in everything her friend had said. "Why Lin?"

"Umm, because she's so much like me and I'm awesome?"

Katara cocked an eyebrow. "Seriously?"

"Okay, okay, from what she's told me, she's liked Lin since they were kids. But as they grew up, she discovered they had the same interests, but different personalities, I guess they complement each other or something." Toph finished with a shrug.

"Do you think Lin will do right by Kya?"

"I guess that's something you have to ask Lin."

Toph entered her daughter's room. "You okay kiddo?"

Su looked up from the pillow she was clutching onto. "Aunt Katara sucks."

"Eh, she always has, you kids were just too afraid of her to realise that." Toph crossed the floor to the bed, kicking bits of dirty laundry as she went. She laid down on top of the soft green sheets, squishing herself into her daughter's side, trying not to fall off the single bed. "I felt your heart drop when you heard Lin and Kya are a thing."

"No it didn't." Su turned to look out her bedroom window. Sombre mood took place between the two. "Why didn't Lin tell me about her and Kya?"

"Who am I? Professor Zei?"

Suyin crossed her arms over her chest. "It's not nice to keep secrets."

"No, it probably isn't."

A moment of calm passed between the two. "I'm sorry I tried to punch Katara in the face."

"It's okay, I think it's what she deserves, no matter how misguided it is, but unfortunately it's not for us to decide."

"Is Lin and Kya gonna be okay?"

"Please, it's no nonsense Lin we're talking about."

Sleep came easy for the two young benders. As soon as the bison landed from exhaustion, the two climbed off its back and barely managed to remove the saddle before collapsing onto the solid earth. One tired from crying all night and the other from making sure they didn't crash. It was mid-morning when the earthbender woke. She stared at her girlfriend a few meters away from her with sorrow filled eyes. The waterbender's face was paler than usual, eyes puffy, a scowl where a normally soft smile should belong and hair pulled from its tie in loops when it was usually so neat. Lin crawled over to her and placed a soft kiss to her cheek. "Come on love, time to wake up."

Kya's eyes fluttered opened, but only slightly. "Hey."

"Hey." She rolled over and rubbed her eyes with her palms. "First time in a long time I wished I was an earthbender, I forgot how hard the earth can be."

Lin smirked. "Next time, just sleep on me."

"Or maybe I could just use my bedroll." She sat up and stretched. "We need some supplies, where did we land anyway?"

Lin sat down and handed her girlfriend some jerky from her rucksack, which she took gratefully. "Not too sure. I tried to make sure we travelled along the coast. I think we might be at the entrance of River Village. We could take a bath in the river if you want? Then we could go into town and buy myself a bedroll, a map and a compass."

"Yeah," Kya stood up slowly, a frown on her face, eyes downcast, "a bath might make me feel better after last night."

Lin took a deep breathe. "Do you want to talk some more?"

"No I think I'm all talked out." She took her girlfriend's hand in her own, a soft smile finally appeared when she didn't pull away. Kya loved it when Lin allowed her to show affection out in the open. Even if no one was around, Lin was always cautious of their surroundings but now they were somewhere where no one knew them and she loved it. Kya removed her clothing and walked into the river, sighing when she felt the cool water lap at her chest. The waterbender submerged her head under the water and closed her eyes, allowing herself to feel connected to her element like she had done multiple times in the past when she was on her own. Even when she was under the water, she could still feel the strong currents of the water pulling and pushing her body. When her lungs started to burn, she kicked off the river bed and took in some much needed oxygen once she surfaced.

"Better?"

"Much, though, I would like it more if you joined me."

Lin smirked and undressed. She wadded into the water only to regret it instantly when the cold water made it passed her waist. She sucked in her stomach in the hopes it wouldn't touch the water, but allowed herself to relax once her body acclimatised to the temperature. "Refreshing."

The two women floated near each other, enjoying the sound of nature around them. "Who would have thought I would take a spontaneous holiday."

Kya chuckled. "Too bad you need to be back for your first day at the academy in a couple months."

"Well we can always take holidays when I have leave. "

"That would be nice." Kya watched as her girlfriend swam around to stand behind her, a coy smile on her lips. "What are you doing love?"

Lin didn't answer her, as she placed her hands on sculpted shoulders and began massaging, smiling to herself the minute she felt the woman in her arms relax. "I love you Kya." She leaned over Kya's shoulders so she could look into the blue eyes that made her ache whenever she saw them filled with sadness.

Kya turned her head to face Lin. "I love you too." A mischievous glint replaced the sadness in her eyes. "Race you back to the shore."

Lin and Kya walked the streets of River Village hand in hand, smiling to vendors as they went. They turned down a laneway, marvelling at unusual products and weaponry they had never seen before, until they came across a woman sitting in a window. The woman was thin, had brown eyes, and a shaved head, yet this wasn't what made her stand out, she was tattooed from head to toe in elaborate pictures and spirals. "I want one."

"I don't think a nail studded whip would suit you, you might take someone's eye out."

"Not that." Kya pulled on Lin's arm so that she was now staring at the tattoo parlour. "A tattoo. I have always wanted one but I never got around to it, now is the perfect time, we could get matching ones."

Lin's face was one of horror. "We are not getting tattoos. Could you imagine what our parents would say?"

"Your mum is blind."

"Well…" Taking a moment to think of an excuse, the best the young earthbender could think of was, "It might hurt."

"No duh. Come on Lin, we can get the tattoos and while we're at camp I can heal us both so our skin isn't irritated."

"Okay." Lin's shoulders slumped. "But nothing with flowers."

Kya smiled as she dragged an apprehensive Lin into the shop. "Nice tats."

"Thanks, I did them myself, my head was a bit difficult but with enough mirrors I did alright. So what can I do for you two laddies?"

"My girlfriend and I would like tattoos."

The tattooist got out her sketch book. "So what do you want? A love heart? Your names?"

Kya leaned on the desk to get a good look at the book while the artist began to sketch. "I was thinking a flying boar in the front, riding a ball of air and perhaps the water tribe symbol in the background." She watched in amazement as the artist only took a few minutes to draw up what she had described.

"Do you want colour? Or just shades?"

Kya looked back at Lin, hoping she would say something to indicate she was into this as much as she was. "I think shades would be best."

"Alright, who wants to be first?"

Kya took a seat on the chair that was set up in the corner of the room. She watched as the artist picked up the needle. "Nice machine."

"Thanks I just bought it. Prior to this baby I had to use wood with needles on the end, very painful and time consuming." The artist turned on the machine, filling the room with a buzzing sound. "Where do you want it?"

"My right ankle on the outside."

Taking a seat on the swivel chair, the artist began to carefully start her task, glancing back at her sketch book every now and then to make sure she was doing it correctly.

Seeing the discomfort on her girlfriend's face, Lin moved to her side to take her hand in her own. "I can't believe we're doing this."

"Shit this is painful. Have you thought, ah fuck, where you want yours?"

"Yeah, I was thinking of getting it on my ribs."

Two hours passed when the two girlfriends were finished getting their tattoos. "I will never get another tattoo again."

Kya chuckled. "I honestly thought you were about to pass out for a minute there. And if you don't want a tattoo, maybe we could get you pierced." Kya poked Lin in her chest for emphasis.

"I'm not piercing my nipple!"

"Shesh, party pooper."

Lin and Kya walked back into camp, where the bison they rode on was asleep, hugging his tail. "Well isn't that the cutest thing in the world."

"Uh huh, do you even know his name?"

"I think his name is Agi." At the sound of his name the bison let out a yawn and rolled over on his stomach, allowing the two women to lean against him. Kya set out the map, studying it closely. "We could go to the Oasis and have a drink there, uncle Sokka said they make really good ones."

"Yeah, mum said the same thing." Lin removed her shirt and ran a finger over the red skin where her new tattoo stood proud but quickly withdrew it when she touched a tender spot. "I wouldn't mind going to Kangaroo Island."

Kya reached for the water in her hip flask and bent it to her girlfriend's ribs. "You know, I've been there and not once have I seen a kangaroo, I've seen Koala roo, sheep roo, even a dingo roo, but never a plain kangaroo."

"Well maybe we might see one this time, we could make it a challenge or something."

"I wouldn't mind going to the air temples."

Lin looked at her with a cocked eyebrow. "I thought you said they were boring."

"They are. I've been to all of them except the Southern Air Temple. Dad talked about it but it was mainly in passing. He talked about how they learned about different gurus and the lessons they taught. It would be nice to actually go there and see where dad grew up."

"Okay, what if we spend these two weeks experiencing towns and what they have to offer and then we can spend the last two weeks flying to the different Air Temples?"

Kya wrapped an arm around Lin, giving her a kiss on the cheek. "You are the best girlfriend I could ever ask for."

By the time Lin and Kya arrived at the Southern Air Temple, the sun had set and the sky was lit by thousands of stars, now visible due to there being no moon. Kya guided the bison down onto the courtyard that was overrun with grass and vines.

"This place really needs some work done to it." Kya watched as Lin slid down Agi's tail and used her earthbending to raise the saddle off the beast, permitting him to gorge on the surrounding greenery.

"I think Agi has that covered." She lowered the saddle back down and climbed on it with Kya. "So are we going to set up camp?"

"I was thinking we could just sleep in the saddle and watch the stars." Reaching into one of the bags they purchased from the previous town, Kya pulled out a large wool blanket and draped it over her legs.

Lin laid down next to her girlfriend to watch the night sky, watching as Kya pointed out shooting stars every now and then and making up stories about constellations to the young earthbender who was just happy to listen to her girlfriend's voice, which she loved to listen to as she dozed off on the waterbender's ample chest.

Kya couldn't help but smile as she observed Lin's chest rise and fall, a smile replacing the usual scowl on the teen's face was always a warm welcome she felt privileged in knowing about. Kya reached up and stroked her lover's back in slow circular ministrations. "Kya, just sleep."

The waterbender jumped slightly but lowered her hand at her girlfriend's request. "I Love you."

Lin yawned, burrowing her face deeper into Kya's chest. "I know and I love you too."

"Hey Lin."

"Mmm?"

"Where do you see us in a few years?" Lin cracked open a tired eye to give the woman looking down at her a glare. "Don't give me that look."

Letting out another yawn, Lin closed her eye. "I don't know. I like to think that we have our own place, you would be in charge of your own clinic and I will be Chief of Police. Your mother will chill the fuck out, Su will either be in jail or surrounded by twenty kids. Tenzin will have kids but none of them will be airbenders, which you and I will laugh at behind his back, Bumi will still be sailing, returning every now and then to make everyone's lives miserable, Mum will find a bar and never leave it."

"… That was a lot more than I expected."

"Pfft, that's the nice version. I'm not secure enough in our relationship to tell you the dark version."

Kya let out a low chuckle as she poked Lin in her ribs. "I think at least half of that might come true."

"Where do you see us going?"

"Not sure." Taking a couple of moments to formulate her own idea of their future, Kya splayed her hand on Lin's back, hoping it will keep her relaxed through the next few moments. "I can see us with a child." She felt her lover tense. "Not for some time of course."

"Kya-"

"I know I know, but think about how nice it would be, to see something so small take their first steps, their first words, like mum or mummy."

"No one is calling me mummy."

"Okay, how about Chief?"

"Better. But what bought this on?"

"I delivered a child before we left." Kya said with a shrug. "When I placed the baby on his mother's chest, I saw him instantly latch on to her and I realised that I want that connection one day."

Lin opened both her eyes and raised her body slightly to look at her girlfriend's face. "You're serious."

"Of course I am."

"You can't breast feed unless you yourself have a baby, and last time I checked, I don't have the equipment to impregnate you."

"There are pills you can take to induce lactation. So we can adopt an infant and have that connection and it's not just about that, it's giving a child a second chance at life. We could offer them a loving environment so different from the one they were rescued from."

"Kya-"

"Like I said, it's not for a long time, but I think I really want the ability to bond with a child in the way that only a mother can." Silence. "Lin, are you okay?"

"I'm fine, it's just a lot to take in. I mean, we're so young and there is so much to see and do out there."

"I don't want a child right this minute but maybe in five to ten years, we could re-visit the subject."

"If it means dropping it right now, I'm fine with it." Lin laid back down, her back to her girlfriend. "Night Kya."

"Night love."

Sleep did not come easy for either of the women.

The two lovers were awoken by a loud roar and a gust of wind rustling their clothing. They opened their eyes to see Appa, with Tenzin and Aang on his back, coming in to land next to Agi. Lin and Kya separated quickly before going to greet the two airbenders.

"Lin?! Kya?! What are you two doing here?"

"Shesh Tenzin, can't your two favourite ladies enjoy a holiday without being questioned?"

Tenzin rolled his eyes. Grabbing his ruck sack he jumped off the bison and gave his sibling a hug when she held out her arms for him to embrace her, though he grimaced when Lin punched him in the arm. "Do you need a hand dad?"

"I'm fine." Aang used his bending to remove the saddle off his old friend like he had done many times in the past, letting the old bison to say hello to Agi. Aang walked over to his daughter and gave her a pat on the shoulder, making Kya cringe at the action. "As much as I love seeing you two, I have to ask, what are you doing here?"

Lin opened her mouth to talk but was silenced when Kya cut in. "We're just holidaying together… like friends should."

"That's amazing!" The Avatar looked at Lin, giving her a large smile. "I always told you to travel Lin, I knew you would enjoy it." Aang punched the young earthbender in the shoulder. "You guys are going to love this place. There is the hall of Avatars, the Pai Sho room, I'll even show you where I made cakes with monk Gyatso."

"I think Lin and I would enjoy the tour, but we haven't had breakfast ye-"

"Say no more." Aang led the group up a spiral of stairs that opened out onto a large garden where fruit grew from various trees. "We used to come up here years ago before I found out I was the Avatar." Aang reached up and took a peach into his hands. "I had a friend called Poh, he used to see how many peaches he could eat, his record was ten. After we finished eating, we went out gliding and the poor guy threw up mid loop." Laughter erupted from the aging Avatar. "He flew face first into it." Lin and Tenzin joined him in laughter before taking a bite of the fruit themselves. "It tastes just like it did back then."

Kya watched her father carefully as they ate and he told stories, realising that he didn't make eye contact with her as he talked. She threw her pit away and stood. "Hey dad, can you show me where the bathrooms are?"

"Uh, sure. Does anyone else need to go?"

Kya looked at Tenzin and Lin who were about to raise their hands but glared at them until they both backed out. "Nope, just me dad."

"Umm, okay." Aang led her back to the temple in silence.

They had been walking for ten minutes and Kya had tried to start a simple conversation but was given one worded answers, she had enough so she quickly stood in front of her father and stopped. "Dad, what are you doing?"

"Bathroom… taking you to the bathroom."

"That's not what I meant," Kya glared at her father, "and you know it. You've been tiptoeing around me all day, and avoiding eye contact with me. What's going on?"

Aang let out a sigh. "I called your mother last week."

Kya's eyes softened, realising why her father had been so nervous around her. "What did she say?"

"She said enough to make me re-think my fathering skills. I haven't been fair to you or Bumi and I'm sorry for that. I was distant, I missed a lot of your school events, I wasn't there for you to talk to when you had problems, and I wasn't there to see you grow up into a beautiful young woman and find love." Taking his daughter by surprise, he pulled her into a familiar hug she hadn't felt since before Tenzin was born. "I am so happy for you Kya and I am proud to call you my daughter."

Kya stood there, shocked. This wasn't exactly the way she thought this talk would go but she wouldn't take it back for anything in the world. "Wait, so you know about me and Lin… and you're okay with it?"

Aang pulled back to give her a goofy smile. "Of course I am! I always told you kids you could love whoever you wanted and Lin is a great girl. I'm sure you will make each other very happy."

"What about mum though?"

"She realised what she said was wrong and she's been talking to Toph about how to be okay with it but it will take time, until then, maybe don't get intimate with Lin out in the open like that." Kya blushed deeply before her father slugged her in the shoulder. "How long until you and Lin need to be back in the city?"

"We have two weeks left. We were going to spend it visiting the different temples."

Aang's smile somehow grew wider. "Would you like to visit them with me and Tenzin?"

"I would love to but I need to ask Lin, it's her holiday too."

"That sounds good."

Kya collapsed onto the ground, from her position on Lin's thigh, smiling to herself when she felt her lover kiss her way down to her pelvis. "Ready to go again?"

"As much as I want to-"

"Is your dad here?" Lin shot up from her position above the waterbender.

"No," Kya reached up and grabbed Lin's shoulders to pull her back down onto the ground, "I told you, he and Tenzin went to bed an hour ago. I want to talk to you before we get back to what we were doing."

Lin nodded, crawling back up Kya's body and rolling off to her side, allowing for the waterbender to curl into her chest and trace the tattoo on her ribs, making her skin pickle at the sensation. "What did you want to talk about?"

"Our holiday plans actually,"

"Oh?"

"Dad was wondering if we wanted to visit the temples with him and Tenzin."

Lin supressed the urge to protest when she saw Kya look up at her with pleading eyes, "I don't see why not."

A large smile appeared on the young waterbender's face. She leaned up and kissed Lin on the cheek. "You are amazing thank you so much Lin."

"Just promise me he won't try to transform me into a vegetarian and I'll be happy."

"No promises love."

Kya quickly straddled Lin's waist, pinning her in place when she tried to roll them over. "Kya, what are you doing?"

"I want to show you how thankful I am, that you are agreeing to travelling with dad and Tenzin, I know this was meant to be our holiday, so for you to let them in on it," Kya released Lin's shoulder's to wipe away a tear, "it makes me so happy, and I want to make you happy."

Lin sat up to place a gentle kiss on the older woman's cheek. "Kya, you don't owe me anything. I'm your girlfriend, it's my job to make you happy, not miserable. I will always try to make you happy." She wrapped her strong arms around Kya's torso, to bring her down gently to rest on her chest. Reaching up, Lin gave Kya a soft kiss on the lips until she felt her react to it. Lin moved from Kya's lips to her jaw, sucking on the skin until she heard Kya hiss. Lin continued down to her lover's collar bone to lick it gently, enjoying the salty taste of a bead of sweat that sat perfectly in the crook of her neck. The earthbender's hands landed on Kya's round backside, using it to slide herself down to brown breasts, smiling to herself when she felt elegant legs around her lower back.

Lin's right hand went to an erect nipple to roll it between her thumb and forefinger, while her left caressed a strong thigh. She felt her lover shudder at her touch. Lin removed her hands from Kya's body to place them on either side of her head."

Kya reached up to stroke the strong arms, enjoying the roundness of the biceps the little divot in her triceps, continuing upwards, she ran her hands along the curve of Lin's back before placing them on the strong earthbender's toned backside.

Kya gave Lin a smile as she brought Lin's hips down to meet her own. Lin allowed Kya to control the motion of her hips until she could maintain the rhythm that was making the older woman moan from beneath her. With every roll of her hips, Kya could feel her clit being stroked with Lin's mound. She looked up into Lin's eyes to see desire and determination to make her come from her actions.

"Ngh, Lin. Spirits, I'm so clo-" Her orgasm cut her off mid-sentence but Lin continued until she herself finished.

Lin rolled off Kya in a panting mess. "That was, uh, different."

"It was amazing. When we get back to Republic City, there's another position I want to try."

Lin felt a lump in her throat.

"I love you Lin."

"I, uh, love you too Kya."


	3. Chapter 3

Lin and Kya landed Agi in the Beifong family's backyard before disembarking with their belongings. Kya went around to the large animal's face to give him a pat on the bridge of his nose. "Thanks Agi, you can go back to Air Temple Island now." The bison roared in approval and took off.

"I'm so glad to be home." Lin opened the back door with her metal bending, a rucksack slung over her shoulder and a duffle bag in each hand, while Kya followed behind her with only a rucksack.

"Same here, I've kind of missed the city. Do we want to put our bags in your room and then go see Toph or?"

"Yeah, that sounds good." Lin led the way to her bedroom and opened the door, only to see her little sister listening to the radio while she lounged on the large queen bed, which wasn't there when she left, with a book in hand. Lin didn't know what to address first, the fact that her tiny single bed had suddenly grown or that her sister was lounging all over it. "Su, what are you doing in my room?"

The younger Beifong set down her book, to sit on the edge of the bed. "Your new bed is more comfortable than mine, so I've been using it while you were away."

Lin walked over and placed her bags at the foot of the bed. "Why do I even have a new bed?"

"Mum said that if Kya is staying with us, a single bed isn't appropriate, or something like that."

Lin's scowl disappeared when Kya placed her hands on her shoulders. "That was very nice of your mum to do that. We'll make sure to thank her after we buy dinner." Kya leaned in close to whisper in her lover's ear. "I can't wait to break it in."

Lin shuddered at the thought. She reached into one of the duffle bags to pull out a small wrapped box. "We got you something Su."

The young earthbender got off the bed to retrieve the gift but as she reached for it, Lin raised her hand to a height Su couldn't reach. "Promise me that when you want to enter my room, you will knock and wait for me or Kya to say 'okay.'"

Su cocked an eyebrow at her older sister. "Why?"

Kya stepped around her girlfriend and leaned down slightly so that she and Su were eye to eye. "Because when two adults are alone they like to do things that only adults should do. And believe me when I say that if you see it, you will want to scratch out your eyes."

"Pft, Lin isn't an adult."

"That's not the point, Su. Just promise me you will knock."

Su waited a few moments before nodding. "Only because you're the one asking." She held out her hand. "Gift please?"

Lin rolled her eyes as she gave her sister the small box. "We got it in the Xiang province. "

"It's beautiful." Su held up the necklace to study it closely. The design of the pendant was a lotus flower made from tightly twirled silver. It was thin and delicate.

Kya stepped forward to take the necklace from her and place it around her neck. "There. You look beautiful Su."

Suyin blushed at the complement. "Uh, thanks. Are we going to get dinner?"

"Yeah." Lin reached into Kya's bag to grab her purse, before taking the rucksack from her girlfriend's shoulders and placing it with their other bags. "Let's go."

The trio exited the family home and walked the twenty blocks into the eatery district of Republic City. The streets were alive, with lights lining the trees, buskers played music for anyone who was willing to listen and the smells of different foods lingered in the air. "What do you feel like eating Kya?" Asked Lin as she steered them through large crowds gathering to watch street performances, making sure they didn't bump into anyone on their way.

"I'm not too sure. Kebabs?"

Lin shrugged. "Sounds good to me, Su?"

"If you're willing to wait in line, I'm up for it." Su pointed to the ten people who had queued in front of the kebab stand. "We'll wait here for you."

"Ugh, fine."

Kya watched as her girlfriend stalked across the street to retrieve their meat filled wraps. "No tomatoes!"

"I know!"

Kya leaned against the wall of a building, watching precariously as the younger Beifong eyed her before also leaning against the building. "Are you okay Su?"

"I'm fine."

Kya stared straight ahead but could still feel Suyin's eyes on her, as though she were trying to bore a hole into the side of her head. "Su-"

"What?"

Kya raised a confused eyebrow at her. "Why are you staring at me?"

"No reason"

"Then stop star-"

"-You and Lin." Su looked down at her shoes. "Why are you together?"

Kya cocked an eyebrow, surprised by the sudden question. "Why does it matter?"

"I just don't get it." Su said with a shrug. "I mean, she's… a girl."

Kya frowned. "So? It has nothing to do with you, so why do you care?"

"Well I talked to my friends at school about it and they called you guys freaks. I think it's just weird"

Kya turned and leered over Suyin, hoping that her height would help intimidate the young Beifong. "Don't you ever call me and Lin weird or freaks. Just because we have a different kind of love to other couples, it doesn't make us anything less."

Suyin rolled her eyes. "Whatever."

"Don't blow me off like that." Kya lowered her brows out of frustration. "You're only thirteen, you don't understand the weight of your words and how they affect people."

Su pushed herself off the wall, a smirk on her face. "I get it but it doesn't stop you two from being weird."

Kya was about to give her an earful when she heard Lin's voice behind her. "What's weird?"

"You are."

Lin glared at her sister. "You are such a pain." Lin wrapped an arm around Kya's lower back, pulling her in close so that she could whisper in her ear. "When her twenty kids eventually kick her out of their homes, she isn't living with us."

Su watched from behind them as Kya laughed and Lin stroked her lower back with her thumb.  _Freaks._

* * *

Toph sat at her desk, listening to the forms her assistant was reading out for her, when there was a knock at her door. "Enter Jin."

A stubby man with a gut entered. He wore an open jacket which revealed a white shirt underneath, with pants pulled up above his waist, making him look older than what he really was. His long white hair that only grew around the base of his scalp was pulled into a tight bun. His face was scrunched up in a glare and his dark green eyes narrowed at the assistant.

"I'll leave you two alone." The assistant gathered the papers and exited the office.

"What do ya want Chief?" His voice was laced with annoyance.

"You really scared Kanna… Asshole." Toph smirked as she got up from her desk and crossed her arms over her steel clad chest.

Toph wasn't a fan of the man standing in front of her but unfortunately no matter how much she wanted to fire him, it wasn't her responsibility and at the end of the day, he brought results from cadets over the years that no one had matched, even if his practises were unconventional. "Have you read the list of new recruits?"

"Maybe I 'ave maybe I 'aven't." He raised a thinning eyebrow. "What's it to you?"

"Shut up Jin." Toph walked behind her chair, clenching the metal in her hands, while debating whether or not to throw the object at the man. "Just tell me if you read the names."

"Yeah, I did."

"So you know my daughter is one of your students then."

"Yep." Jin put a finger in his ear, searching for a waxy substance that had eluded him earlier that day. "I'm gonna make her drop out and send a message to the other little shits I have to train."

Toph glared in his general direction when he flicked the bit of wax onto her boots, finally realising how Katara felt. "That's why I bought you here. I know what your usual shtick is and I think you need to stop."

"Well well well, are you, Chief of Police Toph Beifong, tryin' to get special treatment for your daughter?"

"No, I'm trying to make sure you don't kill her in your twisted up process. I want to make myself clear, if you do anything unconventional, I will see to it that those above me have you fired. You will be out on your ass, lucky to get a job as a bison toe scrubber." She sat down in her chair. "Do I make myself clear?"

"I'll think about it." A smirk appeared on the short man's face. "Here's hoping she's as strong as her mummy. I'd hate to see a Beifong break."

"Liar."

Jin laughed. "Come on Chief, you know it's not up to me if she calls it quits."

"I know." Toph let out a breath of air, causing her bangs to briefly shift from their usual position. "But my kid doesn't know how to accept help, and I worry that this year, that will mean no new recruits."

"If she can't accept help from her fellow cadets, she shouldn't be a cop. Even  _you_  ask for help every now and then, isn't that why I'm  _here_  in the first place?"

"I know, just don't try to kill her."

"I don't need to try." Jin turned on his heels and gave her a lazy wave. "I can't wait to meet your daughter tomorrow, I'm sure she'll be fine." The door shut with a resounding click behind him.

"That man needs to stop lying," Toph muttered to herself, "or learn to lie better."

Kanna entered the office. "You okay Chief?"

"Fine." A large smile made it to her face. "My daughters are here."

Kanna turned to see three girls walking past the desks to Toph's office, a bag of food in Lin's hand. "I guess we should just call this a day."

"Yeah, see you tomorrow Kanna."

* * *

Lin watched from her new bed as Kya walked into their bedroom, a towel wrapped around her hair and one hanging loosely around her chest. Kya closed the door before she bent over and removed the towel from her head. She quickly stood up, flinging her long brown locks behind her in one smooth flick. "I can't believe your mother ate my kebab." Kya removed the towel from her body, leaving her in nothing as she rummaged through the draw Lin had put her clothes in.

"Huh?"

Kya looked over her shoulder to see Lin staring at her legs. "Your mum, my kebab?"

"Oh yeah." Lin let her eyes travel up to the waterbender's round backside. "Umm, well she can't read so she didn't know she was grabbing yours."

"Still, she could have asked first. She didn't even say hello to us, she just went straight to the bag like a hyenawolf."

"I know but that's Toph for you and I think it's a small price to pay after she bought us this new bed."

Kya slipped on a pair of underwear and shorts. "How is it by the way?"

"Not bad."

Kya crawled up her lover's body from the end of the bed. She let her lips linger above Lin's, before quickly rolling to the side and switching off the lamp on the nightstand. "Goodnight." Kya pulled back the new blankets and slid under them.

"Wait," Lin's eyes were wide in bewilderment, "what just happened?"

"I just said goodnight, usually when that happens people close their eyes and sleep."

Lin got underneath the blanket and scooted closer to her girlfriend. "I thought we were going to break in our bed."

"Our?"

"Well, yeah." Lin wrapped an arm around Kya's waist, pulling her in close to her chest. "You share half the bed and in a few days two thirds of the wardrobe, it seems right to call it ours."

Kya rolled around in Lin's arms to face her. "I like that,  _ours_ , it's nice."

"So do you want to break in  _our_  new bed?"

"I'm not really in the mood." Kya rolled back around.

"What?" Lin's eyebrows creased. "Kya, what's wrong?"

"Nothing."

"Aren't you the one who told me you shouldn't lie to your girlfriend?"

"Only because you suck at it."

Lin sighed. "Please Kya?"

"Fine." Kya turned back around. "While you were getting dinner, Su and I were talking and she isn't okay with you and me."

"What did she say?"

Kya let out a sigh. "She called us freaks and weird."

"She always calls me that."

"No, listen carefully, she called  _us_ freaks. "

"Oh, o-h." Lin rolled over onto her back to stare at the ceiling. "I never thought that she would have a problem with it. I can understand why you aren't in the mood."

"Looks like I'm not the only one with family problems."

"Yeah, but at least your mum is trying. Katara called to say hello, even if you only talked for a minute, it's still progress."

Kya turned around and curled into Lin's side. "Try not to worry about it too much, you have your first day of training tomorrow, focus on that instead."

"I'll try." Lin stared at the ceiling, hoping that sleep would come soon.

* * *

Lin leaned over Kya's sleeping body and turned off the alarm that was beeping softly throughout the quiet bedroom. Slowly she removed her arm from under her girlfriend, careful not to wake her from the movement. Lin got out of bed and walked to the wardrobe. She had just finished tying off her bindings when she felt warm hands on her back and encircle themselves around her neck. "It's only three thirty," a tired voice whispered hotly into her ear, "why are you up so early?"

Lin twisted around and placed her hands on Kya's waist. "Class starts at four thirty," they leaned in so that their foreheads were touching, "and runs until two, I need to go or I'll be late."

Kya gave her a soft kiss before reaching into the wardrobe to pick up a black tank top that read, 'Republic City cadet' on the back, and placed it in Lin's hands. "Do you want to go for a late lunch when you finish?"

"Sounds great. What are you going to do today?"

"I was thinking of going to my mentor's clinic and beg for a job."

"I don't think you need to beg, you're the next best healer after Katara and he adores you. "

"Yeah, well it will be easy compared to talking to Su about yesterday."

"As much as I would love to hear your plan, I have to go." Lin raised her head so that their lips brushed lightly before reaching down to grab her duffle bag, then quickly stood back up.

"I love you Lin."

"Love you too Kya." Lin closed the door behind her, then broke out into a brisk jog down the streets of Republic city. A few ostrich carts lined the streets, waiting for their drivers to return from a tea run, or from grabbing their client's bags, but other than one or two vehicles, the streets were silent

Lin walked into the training grounds underneath the police headquarters, an uncharacteristic smile on her face. She was surprised she wasn't the first one there, with three other trainees standing against the far wall, where ball shaped boulders sat in a perfect uniform line. She walked up to the only other female, a woman just a tad taller than her, with long black hair pulled into a tight bun, who had golden eyes with flecks of blue in them and tanned skin that reminded her of Kya. She held out her hand. "Hi, I'm Lin."

The older woman looked at the hand and took it with a smile. "Sayo. Are you an earthbender?"

"Yeah, you?"

"Firebender." She gestured to the two men behind her. "Aki is a waterbender and Saikhan is also an earthbender."

Lin offered a small wave at the two burly men and was given a curt nod in return.

Sayo and Lin continued to talk as others filtered into the room. The laughter and talking stopped when a large rock collided with the wall above their heads. "Stop your fucking gasbaggin' and get your asses over here!" The recruits hesitated for a moment but hastily formed a line in front of him. He started at one end of the line, yelling in the face of each recruit to declare their name, when he reached Lin. She stood up straight, trying her best to stare straight through him. "What is your fucking name!"

"Lin sir!"

"So this is what you look like!" Majority of the recruits furrowed their eyebrows in misunderstanding. "Do you want to tell everyone your last name recruit?!"

Lin took a deep breath. She was hoping she wouldn't have to reveal her name until she graduated, but now that plan was out the window and she was going to be outed. "Beifong." She said with a sigh.

"Louder."

"Lin Beifong, sir!"

"That's right everyone, we have a Beifong among us." He raised himself onto his toes so he could reach her ear but was still a few inches shy. Lowering his voice, he smiled when the young woman refused to shrug away. "I will fucking break you, over and over until you quit." Straightening back up, Jin continued down the line until he finished. "Get running Turds!" He took a horse stance. "Today will be the hardest day any of you will experience here at the academy. I am going to make you hurt, some of you more so than others. You will run, you will duck and dodge rocks and you will all obey the chain of command!"

They ran the border of the underground training grounds in a tight group, none of them wanting to be picked on by the angry man in the centre of the field. The training site was held underneath the police headquarters, something Sokka and Toph were proud of when they first designed it more than twenty years ago. The boundary was mud and the centre of the complex was solid earth.

Lin was focused on the person in front of her, cautious to make sure that she didn't tred on the woman's heels. That was until she saw a rock fly past the front of the pack, causing the leaders to stumble but quickly regain their footing.

"Don't slow down Turds! You will dodge these rocks like your life depends on it and if I see any of you idiots bend I will make that person wish they were dead." The old man raised a rock and pived it at the feet of the person at the back of the pack, making them quickly jump. "Good reflexes!" Another rock was raised and he kicked it at a person a few meters in front of Lin, making everyone drop and roll.

The young earthbender was too focused on the rocks to realise Sayo had run up next to her. "He's gonna kill someone."

"Yeah."

"Why did your mum hire this psycho?"

"She didn't. He was appointed by the council when the force assembled years ago. Sokka told me he was meant to be the Chief of police but Chief Beifong felt he was a bit unhinged so she took up the position. He's hated her ever since."

Lin watched as a rock neared quickly. The man in front of her hadn't even realised he was in the instructor's cross hairs until the rock exploded into dust, with a few pebbles hitting him on his bare arms. He stopped suddenly and turned to see Lin in an earthbending stance. His heart raced when he realised how close he was to serious injury. "Now he's gonna hate me too."

"Beifong! What the fuck did I say?!"

"Sorry sir, I felt as though my comrade was in danger!" Lin continued to run, pulling the man by the shoulder when she went past him, trying to get the young man to focus on the task at hand.

"That wasn't danger! I will show you danger." He straightened up. "Everyone, back to the centre and give me a hundred sit ups." When Lin neared, he stuck his foot out, causing her to land face first onto the dirt. "I didn't realise you'd rather do push ups. Give me fifty and then you can do your sit ups."

Supressing a growl, the young earthbender assumed her push up stance and began to push herself up and down. She was making good, steady progress, when she felt a steel clad foot land on her back. "All the way down Beifong, I don't teach cheats." Every time she would lower herself, his foot pushed her down until her chest touched the ground, continuing for the remainder of the exercise. "Good job you peace of shit, now give me two hundred sit ups and don't you dare stop. The rest of you, grab a ball of earth from the wall and I want you to walk from one end of the field to the other." The trainees watched from their position as their fellow cadet began doing her sit ups. Jin grabbed a nearby hose and turned it on Lin.

Lin shut her eyes when the cold water hit her in her chest, making her dirt stained tank stick to her body. She was at a loss for what was happening to her and why. Her mother had warned her he wasn't going to go easy on her but this was another level. She finished the two hundred and stood, waiting for her next command.

"Alright everyone, go get a drink."

Lin was about to walk towards the drink fountains near the locker rooms, when a wall of earth formed in front of her. "Not you. You can drink at the end of the session. Only five more hours. Do you think you will last?" She was smart enough not to answer. "At least you're not a fucking idiot."

* * *

Kya sat at the kitchen table, a cup of tea in her hands. She stared intently at the one leaf that managed to escape the tea strainer, watching as it bounced from side to side of the mug, never staying still. She took a small sip, enjoying the malty taste of the Assam tea. Just as she placed her cup down, Suyin exited her bedroom dressed in her uniform, the necklace they had bought her no longer hung around her neck, most likely it was now shoved into a draw. "Morning Su."

The teen didn't look at her as she spoke. "Uh-huh." She meandered into the kitchen and grabbed a banana.

"There is some tea on the stove if you want some. It's Assam."

"I'm fine."

"Come and sit down, you don't have to leave for school for another twenty minutes, we can talk."

Su eyed her precariously. "As much as I would love to, I'm meeting up with friends and they might be outside right now."

"They can wait." Kya kicked out the seat next to her with her foot, blocking the girl's exit. "Sit."

Suyin did as she was told, albeit begrudgingly. "What do you want to talk about Kya?"

"Your problem with Lin and I being together. It is pretty obvious that you are not okay with this and I want to help you until you are okay with it."

Su slowly peeled the banana in her hands. "I  _am_  fine with it."

"You're as bad a liar as Lin." Kya leaned closer to the girl sitting next to her. "Tell me the truth Su, why don't you like Lin and me being together? Is it because we are both women, or is it something else."

Su took a small bite of the fruit and chewed slowly, trying to decide the best way to answer Kya's question. She swallowed. "I don't know what it is."

"Well let's try to figure it out, shall we. Is it because Lin and I are women?" Kya asked quickly.

"No."

"Is it because I moved in?"

"No."

"Is it because you don't like me?"

"No."

"Is it because of Lin?"

"Yes." Su didn't mean to say that and her mind was freaking out, hoping she could still back track, when Kya hit her with more questions.

"Is it because she's becoming a cop?"

"What? No."

"Is it because she and your mum will be spending more time together?"

"I don't know!"

"Is it because she's happy."

"Yes, I mean no!"

Kya's eyes widened in surprise. "So you aren't happy that Lin is happy?" she asked incredulously.

"Yes, no." Suyin was flustered. She had no idea why she felt this way but she just said it out loud and now it was hanging in the open, waiting to be dissected.

"Why do you want to see Lin miserable?"

"I don't know!"

"Yes you do!" Kya leaned forward. "Why Su?!"

"Because I'm miserable!" Su collapsed into the chair. "Do you have any idea, how hard it is to see Lin constantly smiling? Whenever you two are together, she is smiling and laughing and happy. I'm just over here, alone and it makes me envious and to make it worse, she and mum are going to be spending all their time together while I'm at home alone. Mum barely talked to me as it was but since you've been around it's gotten worse, I feel ignored by my own mother!" Su was breathing heavily but it soon turned into a choking noise as tears racked her body. "I feel like I'm not even loved by my own mother."

Kya quickly stood from her seat and pulled Su with her, wrapping her in a tight hug and not letting go as the young woman sobbed into her chest. "Shhh, it's okay Su. You just let it all out." Kya stroked her short hair comfortingly. "I am so, so sorry you feel this way, that  _we_  made you feel this way. Trust me when I say that's not what Lin and I intended." Kya pulled away from Su slightly and brushed the bangs away from her tear stricken face. Su lifted her head to look up at her. "I will make this better. I promise."

Su pushed away and grabbed her book bag. "I have to go."

"Su-"

The door slammed shut, leaving Kya alone to think.

* * *

The day continued, filled with squats, planks, wall sits, chin ups and a wide variety of different exercises, some of which the cadets hadn't even heard of, every time, Lin was ordered to do double, making her only half way through when everyone had finished. "Come on Beifong, I wanna go home."

Lin's heart was beating wildly as she grabbed the chin up bar, but the mud on her hands made her slip, causing her to fall flat on her face into the mud for the fourth time that day. _When will this end?_ She thought to herself while the instructor yelled in her face.

"If you don't get up," Jin raised a boulder the size of a melon, "I will smash this on you until you do."

Lin looked up at the boulder but her arms couldn't support her weight and she collapsed. She waited for the rock to come down on her body, but it never came. Lin opened her eyes to see Sayo standing in above her. "Sayo?"

"What do you think you're doing cadet?"

Sayo stood tall, her tanned skin glistening with sweat. "Helping out a fellow cadet sir."

Jin dropped the boulder. "Do you accept her help Beifong?"

Lin looked from Sayo to her instructor then back at Sayo. "Yes sir."

"Okay." Jin walked to his gym bag and slung it over his shoulder. "It took you idiots all day to finally get it!" The cadets stopped their trek to the showers, giving Jin their attention. "In order for you to protect the city, you first need to protect each other and accept each other's help. Beifong was the only one to help a fellow trainee and accept help, majority of you were too selfish to accept help or give it." He looked down at Lin who was still lying in the mud. "You all could learn a thing from her." His voice softened. "Good work, Lin."

"That man is insane." Sayo knelt down and stretched her hand out to Lin, to which she took gratefully before pulling herself to her feet. "How you feeling Lin?"

"Thirsty and sore actually."

* * *

Toph was asleep in her chair, feet up on her desk. A small smirk graced her lips as she dreamt about winning the earth rumble sixth for the eighth time in a row, that was until a light knock roused her. "Come in."

The door opened and closed with a soft click. "Hey Toph."

"Hey Kya. What brings you to my office?"

Kya stood in front of the steel desk, arms crossed over her chest. "Lin didn't show up for lunch like we had planned, I thought you might know where she is."

"Wait, what time is it?"

"Four. We were going to meet at three. I tried your house but she wasn't there, I tried our usual spots, but nothing."

Toph sat upright and planted her feet onto the ground, sending seismic waves throughout the building. "She's in the laddie's locker room in the training grounds. Do you want me to come with you?"

"No, I've got it. See you later Toph."

Toph gave her a small wave as she resumed her previous position and closed her eyes. "Good job, Badgermole." She said to herself once the door had shut.

* * *

"Thanks Sayo." Lin removed her arm from around the older woman's shoulders before sitting down on one of the benches that lined the middle of the room.

"Are you going to shower?"

"No point. I'm going to see my healer after this." Lin laid down on the bench and slung an arm over her eyes. "I just need a minute to get some feeling back into my legs."

Sayo got undressed before jumping into one of the showers, closing the chest high door behind her with a click. "Have you got any plans after this?"

"Well, I was meant to have a lunch date but that's gone out the window. I don't think they're going to be very happy with me."

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Shit happens. Hey, wasn't there another woman?"

"Hmm? Oh yeah, she quit halfway through along with five other guys, you and I are the only females left. So tell me about this date, is he hot?"

Lin was about to answer when she heard a familiar voice call her name. "Lin?"

"Over here." Lin stood up on shaky legs.

Kya took in her girlfriend's appearance. Her usually neat black hair was tousled and stuck out in odd angles, she had scrapes and bruises on her arms and legs and was covered in dirt. "What happened to you?"

"An insane man by the name of Jin, that's what happened. Sorry about missing our date."

Kya leaned forward and gave her a quick kiss. "It's okay but you look like you could use a healing session and a bath."

"Hang on." Lin threw her hands to the side, sending the dirt covering her body to the floor.

"I hate it when you do that."

Lin gave her a soft smile in apology. "Sayo, this is my girlfriend, Kya."

Kya turned around to see a woman staring at them with red cheeks. "Umm, hi Sayo, nice to meet you."

"Uh, yeah," Sayo rubbed the back of her neck from embarrassment, "you too."

Lin took Kya's hand in her own before grabbing her gym bag and slipping it over her shoulder. "I'll see you tomorrow Sayo."

"Yeah, you too Lin, take it easy."

Once they were out of earshot, Kya looked back over her shoulder. "I think we made her uncomfortable."

"People are just going to have to get used to it." Lin let go of Kya's hand, choosing instead to sling it over her girlfriend's shoulder. "Sorry, I feel like I've been hit with a brick wall, which, by the way, he threatened to do on numerous occasions. " Lin took a deep breath once they reached the bottom of the stairs. "This is going to be a bitch."

"Piggy back?" Kya knelt down, allowing Lin to let her arms hang loosely around her neck as her arms came up behind her knees. "I haven't given you a ride since you were five."

"Let's not make a habit out of it." They made it to the garage and Lin was lowered to her feet. "When we get outside, let's get an ostrich cart, I can't stand for much longer."

* * *

Kya closed the door to the house and re-joined Lin in their bedroom after having paid the driver of the ostrich cart. "You okay?"

"Not really. My back hurts, I'm pretty sure I'm still dehydrated, my muscles ache and I've been hit with rock after rock today whenever I couldn't do a chin up, or when I struggled to do a sit up. I can feel the bruises and the tiny cuts under my clothes."

"Okay, get undressed and on the bed, I'm going to get you a towel, a glass of water and my oils."

Lin nodded and slowly began to undress, before climbing onto the middle of the bed. She reached out a hand to the light switch to turn it off and then used her metal bending to draw the blind, leaving her in darkness.

Kya entered the bedroom and lit a candle that was on the nightstand. "Relaxed yet?"

"I'm trying to."

Kya handed her the glass of water, watching as her girlfriend drank it quickly. "Alright, roll over onto your stomach." Kya waited for Lin to get situated, and then placed a towel over her backside before assuming her position by straddling her lower back. Squirting some oil into her palms, the waterbender placed her hands at the nape of her neck and began driving her thumbs deeply into the tissue.

Lin curled her toes from the pressure, but kept her mouth shut. Just as she was getting used to the pain, Kya somehow managed to push deeper. "Ah fuck! Are you trying to make me hurt?"

"It wouldn't hurt so much if you just relaxed." Kya pushed Lin back into the pillow. "I'm trying to release the knots but your body is fighting me. If you don't relax, I can't help and it will take you a few days to get over the pain."

"I know, but my body isn't listening to me." Taking a deep breath, Lin forced herself to relax, choosing to focus on her girlfriend's ministrations instead of the pain she was causing.

"This isn't going to work." Kya let out a sigh. Getting off Lin, she walked to her medical bag that was sitting in the corner of the room and pulled out a syringe and a bottle containing a clear fluid.

"What's that for?"

"It's a sedative. It will help you relax so I can work out the knots in your body."

"Is that  _really_  necessary?" Lin stared at the needle in her girlfriend's hands, as she loaded it with the sedative. "Can't you just use your healing?"

"There's nothing to heal. You are just full of knots." Kya shot a small amount of the liquid from the tip of the needle. She levelled the device at Lin's arm. "Hold still." Tapping at the crook of her arm, Kya waited for a vein to surface and injected the sedative into Lin. "You know, I think you might deserve a lollipop for being a good patient."

"Very fu- whoa." Lin felt as though her body had become weightless. "This is actually some pretty great shit."

Kya smiled at seeing her girlfriend's eyes try to constantly refocus themselves but the sedative set in quickly and she settled on shutting them. "It was this or lily weed," Kya resumed her position on Lin's backside, "yet somehow I felt that the sedative would be easier to explain to my boss."

"You got a jo- ngh." A sigh escaped the young earthbender's lips when she felt strong fingers press themselves under her shoulder blades.

"Yes, I got a job." Kya pressed her thumbs to the side of one of the vertebras, having sensed a knot. "I'm training your class tomorrow in first aid." Feeling the knot re-form, the waterbender frowned. "Really Lin? Don't make me give you more."

"I'm sorry, it was just surprising." A smirk creeped onto the earthbender's face. "I guess sleeping with the teacher might have its perks."

Kya rolled her eyes. "That's not all. He wants me to be a squad healer."

"You mean a healer that tags along on police missions?"

"Mhm. I said yes. It will only be a couple of days a week, the rest will be spent at the clinic and doing other things. I thought it was the best move. It means I get to be a lot more flexible with my hours, and better money which is good for both of us."

"You know, I always thought you would look good in Republic City armour."

Kya smiled, glad that her girlfriend was so accepting, even if the sedative may have had something to do with it. "That's good to know, I actually pick it up in a few weeks."

"I can't wait to see you in it, perhaps naked, with nothing but that cool steel on you."

"You metalbenders have the weirdest turn-ons." Kya's voice turned serious. "I also talked to Su this morning."

"Uh huh. What did she sa-" Before Lin could finish talking, the door opened.

Katara looked at her daughter's position atop Lin's torso, causing a blush to form on her cheeks. "I'm sorry, Toph said that you were in here. I should have knocked."

The trio remained still, daring the other to talk, until Kya finally spoke up. "It's fine mum." She stared intently at Lin's back, not yet comfortable to make eye contact with the woman she punched in the face two months ago. "Lin had her first day at the academy and I was just giving her a massage."

"Without any water?"

"Yes, Doc showed me how to feel for the knots and with a bit of pressure, I can release them. It has a longer lasting effect than waterbending."

"A doctor named Doc, now I've heard everything." Katara stepped further into the room, watching intently as Kya worked on Lin's back. The light flickering off the vial on the nightstand caught Katara's keen eye. She quickly walked over to it and picked it up, reading the label. "A sedative?! Are you serious?"

Kya took a deep breath in an effort to keep her emotions in check. "Yes mother, a sedative. Lin was tense and I couldn't help her until she relaxed," Kya turned around and placed her hands on the back of Lin's thighs, "I gave her a sedative and I've been able to do my job."

Katara put a hand over her eyes out of frustration. "You shouldn't be using medical equipment like this. It should be used on those who truly need it, like those living on the streets with nowhere to go. This small vial costs twenty yuans and the fact that Doc charges for medical assistance is ridiculous."

"We can't all live on Air Temple Island where everything is free. This is the real world, things cost money. We try to offer assistance to those on the streets but with no funding from the city, there is only so much we can do." Kya removed herself from Lin's body and leaned down so that she and her girlfriend were now eye to eye. She placed a cool hand on Lin's cheek, rubbing gently at the skin when Lin leaned into her touch. "How do you feel?"

"Amazing."

Kya gave her a quick kiss before standing to face her mother and crossed her arms over her chest. "Now if you're finished questioning the way I use medical supplies, I'm sure Lin would love a bit of privacy while she gets dressed."

Katara gave her a slight nod, before exiting the room and closing the door behind her.

Lin stood from the bed and wrapped an arm around her girlfriend's waist. "You handled that well."

"Thanks. So did you by the way. I didn't feel you tense up when she walked into the room, I take it the sedative had fully kicked in."

"Mm hmm. I'm loving it actually. I finally realise why people get addicted to stuff like these. Your parents, Toph and Sokka are in the dining room. I think we should hurry out there, Aang is making Sokka wait for us."

Kya removed herself from Lin's grasp and waited for her to finish dressing before exiting the room together to grace the people at the table with their presence

"Aang, please can I eat now? The meat might get tired of waiting and walk off the plate."

The Avatar rolled his eyes as he watched his brother in-law gorge on the mountain of food they had bought from a corner shop. "Sometimes I wonder how you and Katara are even related."

"And sometimes I wonder how you're a vegetarian."

Toph stole a piece of food from Sokka's hands, much to his annoyance. "And sometimes I wonder why I let you two dunderheads into my home." She chewed on a few pieces of hippocow, while continuing to make conversation. "So Lin, how was the academy?"

"Tough. Jin's an asshole. Five people dropped out and apparently I managed to be his favourite student yet his least favourite."

Toph shrugged. "Don't worry too much about it. He died in my office today."

Lin watched as her mother popped a piece of meat into her mouth nonchalantly. "Wait, what?"

"Jin, he died. The asshole came into my office, told me how you were the first student he ever had pass his test and then he had a heart attack and died. I swear, he only dropped dead in my office because he knew it would annoy the shit out of me."

"Toph," Aang began, "I don't think you should call the man that word now that he passed."

Toph shrugged. "Just eat your dang rice."

"Wait," Lin swallowed what was in her mouth. "Are you saying that because I made him happy, he died?"

"It would appear that way. Jin  _was_  an asshole," Toph raised her glass, "though he was the best asshole I ever knew. Funeral is next week."

Lin stared down at her food, no longer hungry. "What happens to the trainees?"

"I'll be in charge. If you think he was tough, you have another thing coming."

Lin pushed her food away  _great, first Kya and now my mother, I'm never going to get any credit._

The meal continued in relative silence, save for chopsticks clinging against bowls. When everyone finished, they stared at each other, daring someone to talk.

Toph, having had enough of the silence, kicked Katara under the table, resulting in a glare directed her way, not that she could see it. "Umm, how have you been Kya?"

"Good."

"That's good to hear."

Silence resumed, making the air thick with awkwardness. "I swear," Sokka started, "I didn't sign all that paper work earlier to spend my evening in silence, Katara, just ask Lin and Kya what you need to ask to make it go back to being normal."

Katara scowled at her brother before sighing in resignation. "I just want to ask a few questions and perhaps talk to you about your… relationship." Lin and Kya glanced at each other from the corner of their eyes. "Kya, why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't want you making a big deal out of it, which you did in the end anyway."

"You two were having sex in the open! How do you expect me to react?"

"Wait, you two did wha-" Toph silenced Sokka with a hand over his mouth.

"No talking tonight, just listen." She whispered in his ear

Kya looked at her uncle who was wide eyed before returning her attention to her mother. "With a bit more understanding. After all, I've caught you and dad out there on more than one occasion." Aang and Katara both blushed. "That's right, I've seen you two out in the open, butt naked, when I was four. I guess it's no surprise why I like women now. Dad's butt can turn any woman gay."

Lin smacked her palm into her forehead. "I'm dating someone who's whole family are exhibitionists."

"Pfft," Toph released a saliva covered hand from Sokka's mouth and wiped it on his shoulder, "You didn't stop running around the backyard naked until you were six. When you were five I chased your naked bum around the bullpen which was full of officers at the time. By the way, those officers still talk about that moment to this day and they're going to be your colleagues in a few months."

Lin's face turned red from embarrassment, knowing that her fellow officers had already seen her naked. "That's it, I'm becoming a hermit."

Kya smiled and folded her arms over her chest in victory. "I guess I win that argument. Any other questions?"

"Why Lin?"

"Why not?"

"She's going to be a cop one day and I don't want that life for you."

Kya's brows furrowed at the softening of her mother's voice. "What do you mean?"

"Kya, I've volunteered at hospitals, I see what happens when Toph's officer's get themselves caught up in fights with triads. The blood, the broken bones, death. Not to mention the late nights, the inconsistent hours, the torment it has on their psyches. There is a homeless man I help who used to be a cop. His nightmares are so bad that he turned to drinking in order to sleep and when he does sleep, it's only for a few hours." Katara turned to Lin. "You've seen your mother's liquor cabinet, you know how often she replaces those bottles. A smart girl like you can't possibly be blind to it."

Lin looked over at Toph who was staring down at the table, her bangs covering her face, a glass of brown liquor in her hand and a half empty bottle in front of her. Aang and Katara were drinking water, and Sokka was struggling with his second drink.

Kya reached a hand under the table to take hold of Lin's, giving it a tight squeeze in solidarity. "While I'm with Lin, she has someone to help her through those sleepless nights. She still has nightmares about what Yukone did to Toph all those years ago."

Toph continued to stare down at the table as she talked. "You told me you no longer have them."

"I can lie when I really want to. But it's the only one you truly believed. Since I've been with Kya, I've only had the dream a few times." Lin gave her hand a squeeze. "She's helped me through it, helped me sleep." Lin looked over at Katara. "I'm going to be a cop and Kya will be at my side, helping me with any vices I might develop."

Kya smiled at her girlfriend. "You know I will. Any other questions?"

"Yeah, Lin, what would you do if Kya was in danger? What if you got on the wrong side of someone dangerous and they decided to take Kya away from you?"

Lin glared at the older woman. "How can you ask me something like that?!"

"It's happened in the past. People have tried to use you and Su against Toph but weren't smart enough to pull it off. What's to stop them from trying the same thing against you?"

"I would give my life for Kya and if the day comes when one of those crooks gets lucky and kills her, you can bet your life that I would kill myself soon after bringing them to justice." Lin looked intently into Kya's eyes, trying to convey as much emotion as she could. "I can't live without Kya, no matter how hard I try. I love her."

"I love you too."

Katara leaned back in her chair and took a sip from her glass of water. "I see." A smirk finally appeared on Katara's face for the first time that night. "Welcome to the family Lin. Now about your tattoo."


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Read and review.

Lin was seated at the Beifong family kitchen table, an icepack held to her ribs and a hand over her nose. ”I think it’s broken.”

“Your nose or your ribs?” Kya called from their bedroom.

“Both.”

Kya walked into the kitchen with her medical kit in hand and took a seat next to her girlfriend. “Are you going to remove your hands so I can see what’s going on?”

Reluctantly, Lin removed her hand from her nose, choosing to keep the ice pack at her ribs. “Well?”

“Well, I did I really good job.” Kya closely inspected the nose. It was now facing slightly to the side instead of straight ahead and bruising had started to form under the earthbender’s eyes. “I definitely broke it.”

“Really? You don’t say.”

“If you want me to fix it, you may want to stop with the sarcasm.” Kya placed both of her thumbs on the bridge of Lin’s nose and pushed down, then grabbed the cartilage that was facing left and brought it in line with the rest of Lin’s face. As she inspected it, blood began to flow profusely from her nostrils. “Whoops.”

Lin instantly clutched at her face, trying to catch as much of the blood as possible. “Whoops? What do you mean whoops?”

“I forgot about the blood build up.” Kya grabbed a bunch of tissues and held them to Lin’s nose. “It’s straight, in case you were wondering.”

“What about the racoon-bear eyes?”

“I think they make you look dangerous.”

“Fix them.”

Kya reached for water from her hip flask and manoeuvred it around Lin’s eyes until it glowed. “Sorry about all this.”

“I forgive you but our spars are usually fun and light hearted, what was with the aggression?”

“I’ve just had to work with really annoying co-workers lately and we’re going through this heat wave which is making everyone insufferable. I had a woman today arguing her right to eat her placenta. Her placenta! Why would anyone want to do that?! This day has gotten the better of me and it just boiled up inside until I took it out on you. I’m glad I get to work with the squad tomorrow, those guys always have a way to fix things.”

Lin removed the tissues from her nose to give Kya a smile. Kya would have returned the smile if Lin didn’t have black eyes and blood staining her lips and chin, with a few splotches on her teeth.

“I wouldn’t blame you for breaking up with her Kya.” The two women turned to see Suyin standing in the doorway, a hand on her hip and a large bag draped over her shoulder. “We all have our limits when it comes to physical beauty and yours is quite high as is.”

Kya rolled her eyes at the sixteen year old. “Where have you been Su? It’s ten at night and we haven’t seen you in three days.”

“I’ve been hanging out with my friends.” Su said, with a dismissive wave of her hand. “Where’s mum?”

“Toph went to Gaoling a few days ago for her usual trip to see grandma and grandpa. She said she’ll be back in a week.”

Su shrugged and turned for the front door. “I’ll be back tomorrow then.”

“No you won’t!” Lin stood and limped her way over to her sister, so that she was now looking down at the teen. “You’ve been out night after night and while mum is gone I’m in charge so you’re not going anywhere.”

Su leaned forward on her tip toes trying to make herself appear larger, which was quite difficult when her sister was a twenty one year old metalbending officer. She poked Lin in her broken ribs, making her posture crumble slightly. “You don’t look like you’re in a position to really stop me.” She turned on her heel and walked out the door.

“Thanks for the support Kya.”

“It’s Su. Even if I poisoned her with shirshu toxin, it wouldn’t stop her from leaving. Beifong’s can be incredibly stubborn as I’m sure you’re aware.” Kya placed her hands on Lin’s bare shoulders and brought her back to the kitchen table. “Let’s heal those ribs.”

* * *

 

Lin and Kya walked the streets to the Republic city police department. The sun had barely risen and yet the mercury was soaring. The kids that usually played in the town square, sat in the shadows of an alley nearby, birds had chosen to spend their day near any body of water they could find and vendors had already began to pack up shop, even though it was only eight in the morning.

“I hate the sun.”

“And I hate angry waterbenders.”

Kya tried to give her girlfriend a slight smirk but due to the sunglasses that sat on the bridge of the earthbender’s nose, it was hard to tell if the gesture was well received or not. “I’m really sorry I couldn’t completely heal the bruising.”

“I already told you that it was okay.” Lin continued to stare ahead, trying not to focus on the sun currently making her armour a sauna.

“I know, but even though you say it’s okay, your tone doesn’t.”

“Kya,” Lin stopped in her tracks to face the waterbender, “I’m okay, honestly. It’s just a bit of bruising and I can handle that. What I can’t handle is the questions and the looks I will get from my subordinates, that’s why I’m wearing the glasses. They already show me little respect as is.”

They continued to walk towards the station. “Not because they make you look like a badass?”

“…That too.” They made it to the steps of Police Headquarters, stopping to give each other a chaste kiss, something that had become tradition since they both began working there. Lin rolled down the sleeves of Kya’s deep blue uniform and readjusted the steel that covered the waterbender’s chest to sit more comfortably. “I know it’s hot out but we still have to be prideful in our uniforms.”

“Gee, thanks officer Beifong.” And with that, they entered the large building.

“Spirits, I swear it’s hotter in here than outside.”

“I’d love to debate that fact with you but I’m going to find my fellow waterbenders and see if they came up with a way to cool down.”

Lin rolled her eyes as she watched her girlfriend’s form retreat to a room reserved for squad healers. “That woman, I swear.” Lin walked the five flights of stairs into the bullpen, where majority of her co-workers were slumped over their desks, most likely praying that there were no incidents today.

“Hey Deputy.”

“Sayo.” Lin sat down at her steel desk, frowning at the stack of paperwork that already adorned her desk. “This stack keeps getting bigger.”

“You say that every day.” The firebender placed her hands upon the desk top and leaned forward, invading her superior officer’s personal space. “Sunglasses aren’t to be worn inside Deputy, and I know how much you love to follow the dress code.”

Lin grumbled under her breath before removing the eyewear, revealing the yellowing bruise under her eyes. “Happy?”

“Shit Lin-”

_There goes the formalities and any ounce of respect I had._

“- What the fuck happened to you?”

“Kya-“

“I always knew she was violent. If you like, I can show her a few moves of my own?”

“How about you let me tell you what actually happened before you get your ass kicked by my girlfriend.” Lin let out a sigh before continuing. “We were sparring and-“

“She kicked your ass!”

Lin looked up from her desk to the other officers in the room who were now giving her their complete undivided attention. Reaching up she grabbed at the steel chest piece of Sayo’s uniform and used it to bring her down to eye level. “Will you keep it down?”

“Sorry.” Sayo said with a shrug. “I guess this is why I keep missing out on promotions, huh?”

Lin let go of the uniform and used her bending to remove her hand print. “You think? Yes, I had my ass handed to me by my waterbending girlfriend, but she was angry at the sun and it’s a full moon tomorrow so she’s on edge.”

“If you were to say that about someone who isn’t a bender, it would sound absolutely insane.”

“Hmph.”

“You know,” Sayo lowered her voice so it was just above a whisper, “the Red Water Hotel has one of those new air-conditioning units. Maybe you could take Kya there and have a relaxing night.”

“Nope.” Lin grabbed one of the forms from atop her desk and began to fill it out.

“What? Why?” Sayo asked incredulously.

“Because of what happened the last five times you tried to give me dating advice.”

“You’re not taking her advice again, are ya Deputy?”

Both women looked up at Saikhan who had just walked into the office with a coffee in hand. “Not if I can help it. No. I see even in this heat you can’t kick the caffeine habit.”

“Coffee and police work, match made in heaven. Nice face by the way.”

“Hmph.”

“What is wrong with my advice?!” Sayo practically yelled.

The whole office groaned in perfect synchronisation.

“Well,” Lin began. “There was the time you told me about this amazing place that sells great kebabs which you can eat while watching a show.”

“Yeah, and?”

“And it was a strip club, they were out of wings and they were dealing opioids out of the back room. I love a good drug bust as much as the next officer, but my date isn’t a fan.”

“That was one ti-“

“Remember Sayo’s suggestion of feeding the ducks at Hei Bai park?” Saihkan began to laugh, struggling to speak as he did so. “And a mud fish swallowed Kya’s arm and pulled her in. Spirits, first time I was happy to be out on patrol.”

“Then there was the time you suggested we go to ‘the cove,’ which turned out to be a brothel!”

“Okay, that one wasn’t my fault.” Sayo held up her hands in defence. “Chief said we needed someone on the inside and those laddies were a lot more eaglehawk eyed than we gave them credit for. Two clueless women in there, how were they going to know you were a cop? Also, Toph bet me fifty yuans you wouldn’t be able to catch on that they were escorts.”

“That somehow doesn’t surprise me.”

“Okay, but this is different, it’s a hotel, a legitimate one. I’ve heard great things about it and their new air-conditioning unit will keep you guys nice and cool. They have room service, twin showers, satin bed sheets and no little sisters. I promise, if you don’t love it, I’ll pay for the night including your room service tab.”

“Deal.” Lin stood up from her desk and began to walk towards the doors.

“Where are you going Deputy?”

“Ask Kya for permission.”

* * *

 

Lin walked up to the door that belonged to the healing squad and pushed it open, what she saw was something she did not expect. Four healers, including her girlfriend, sat in chairs made from ice, around a small circular table with a beer in each of their hands. “Kya?!”

“Hey Lin. Come and join us”

The earthbender closed the door behind her and took a step further into the room. “It’s eleven in the morning, why on earth are you drinking?” The room was so cold, Lin could see her breath in front of her.

“Because it’s eleven in the morning.” One of the men supplied. Lin struggled to remember his name, Deng, something or rather.

“Shut up Baht.”

_Or that._

 Kya turned to her girlfriend who had her arms crossed over her chest. “We drink beer all the time on hot days like this, the ice chair though, that was my genius idea.”

“The chief wouldn’t approve of this.”

“Look out everyone, it’s the fun police.” Baht quipped to which everyone laughed except for Lin. Seeing everyone enjoy his remark, Baht continued. “Careful, she might hang around long enough to pull that stick out of her ass and hit you with it.”

“Lin,” Kya’s voice cut through the laughter, “who do you think gave us the idea?”

“Of course she did.” Turning on her heel, Lin walked back out the door, a scowl on her face. She had nearly reached the bottom of the stairs when a hand grasped her forearm and pulled her to the underside of the steps.

“Hey,” the hand moved up from her forearm, to the soft skin at her cheek, “is everything okay?”

“You mean other than my girlfriend not sticking up for me? Yeah, everything’s just dandy.”

Kya manipulated Lin’s face with her hand, forcing her to look her in the eyes. “You’re right, Lin, you are right. I should have stuck up for you in there and it was wrong of me to let Baht continue the way he did.” The waterbender stepped in closer, pushing the metalbender deeper into the dark corner behind the stairs, and stroked Lin’s cheek with her thumb, sincerity in her eyes. “Let’s do something after work tomorrow, anything you want, I promise.”

Lin’s resolve broke and she leaned into the waterbender’s cool touch. “Well, Sayo told me about this hotel.”

“Not another one of Sayo’s suggestions.”

Lin chuckled at Kya’s dismay. “I know but this one shouldn’t be nearly as bad as the other places she’s suggested. It has room service.”

“I do enjoy having someone else cook for me.”

“Mhm, and the best part is it has air conditioning _and_ Sayo said that if we hate it, she will pay the whole bill.”

“It’s a full moon tomorrow too. I could try that thing you’ve wanted to try for the past month.”

“I would love that so much.”

Kya gave Lin a toothy grin as she threw her arms around her neck but quickly pulled away when she made contact with the steel surrounding the officer’s torso. “Ah fuck that’s hot.”

“You’re telling me.”

 

Lin sat on the edge of the pool in the backyard and let her legs dangle lazily in the water, as she watched her girlfriend float on her back. “Tell me again why we didn’t just go for a swim last night instead of sparring.”

“I had frustration that I needed to work out. This, this is working for me though. Are you going to get in the water or just sit there?”

“I am in the water.”

Kya stopped floating and began to tred water, her long brown hair falling perfectly flat against her scalp. “Come and _actually_ join me.”

“I don’t know if you’ve realised but I’m not exactly dressed for it.” Lin gestured to the tank top and training pants she was currently wearing.

Kya swam over to her, a mischievous smirk on her lips. “I don’t care.”

“Wait, Ky-“ It was too late, Lin found herself being pulled into the large body of water by a hand on her foot. She resurfaced with her hair now wet and hanging over her face. “I don’t like you.”

Kya pushed back her girlfriend’s hair to give her a quick kiss and a wide smile. “I like you too.” Kya felt for the hem of Lin’s shirt and pulled it over the metalbender’s head before throwing it to the side of the pool with a resounding _slop_.

Lin cocked an eyebrow at her. “Are you going to take off my pants too or do I have to do that myself?”

Kya took hold of the waistband of Lin’s pants and used it to pull their bodies closer together. She slowly pulled down the zipper, making sure Lin could feel the touch of her hand as it followed the curvature of her crotch. The waterbender used her bending to form two tendrils under the water and pulled off the pants completely, leaving them to lie at the bottom of the pool. “See, isn’t that much better?”

Lin huffed in defiance, not wanting Kya to win like she had so many times in the past. “It was better when I was dry.”

“You weren’t dry, you were covered in sweat.”

Not wanting to be proven wrong anymore, Lin grasped Kya by the waist and pulled her in for a kiss. The earthbender bit Kya’s bottom lip gently before sucking it into her mouth, much to the pleasure of the older woman. Lin slowly manoeuvred them to the shallow end of the pool so that both her feet were touching the ground, allowing her to put her hands into the waistband of Kya’s bikini bottoms and grip the tone bum that she had come to love in recent years.

Not wanting to be out done, Kya wrapped her thighs tightly around the earthbender’s waist and locked her ankles tightly together. She removed her right hand from Lin’s black hair and up under the bindings to find her right breast. Using her waterbending, Kya froze the water on her fingertips, causing Lin to gasp at the unusual sensation. “Spirits, Kya.”

Kya grinned when she heard the huskie tone of Lin’s voice. Kya had formed ice around her other hand and was about to go south when Lin’s hand stopped her. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, I just want to do this in bed. I don’t think people, us included want to swim in our bodily fluids.”

Kya’s face screwed up in disgust but nodded anyway. “Fine but you’re not gonna be able to walk tomorrow.”

“I think I’m okay with that.”

* * *

 

Su stood outside Kya and Lin’s bedroom door. She took a deep breath and slammed her foot on the ground, sending seismic waves throughout the home. Satisfied that they were both asleep, Su slowly pushed open the door and made her way around to the side of the bed. Su knelt down and lightly poked Kya in the arm, causing the older woman to wake with a slight jolt. “Su?” Kya said, voice barely above a whisper. “What time is it?”

“One.”

Kya narrowed her eyes, trying to see through the haze of her sleep. In the moonlit room Kya could make out that Su’s makeup had run down her cheeks, giving away the fact that she had been crying. “You okay?”

“No. Can we talk?”

Kya looked over her shoulder at Lin who had her face buried into her back and an arm wrapped tightly around her torso. “Can you pass me my robe?” Su did what was asked of her and then turned around so that Kya could slip out from under the light sheet and cover up.

“Kya? Where are you going?”

The waterbender looked back at her girlfriend who still had her eyes closed, but was now lying on her back. “Just going to the bathroom. Go back to bed Love.”

“Mm.”

Satisfied that Lin had gone back to sleep, Kya followed Su out of the room and closed the door behind her with a quiet click.

They entered the kitchen and Kya put on the kettle to make them a cup of tea each, when she felt arms wrap tightly around her waist and a head bury itself between her shoulder blades. Kya turned in the embrace to stroke the young teen’s short black hair. “Shh, it’s okay Suyin, everything is going to be okay.” Kya lead them to the table and pulled out a chair for Su to sit in while she poured them both a cup of tea.  She returned to the table and set down a cup in front of Su before reaching out a cool hand to wipe away the makeup that had run down her face. “Much better. Now tell me what has you so upset.”

Su looked up, trying to get the tears to stop. “That’s just it, I don’t really know.” Su slumped further into her chair.

“Just start at the beginning. I promise I won’t judge, just be honest with me.”

“Well, I was hanging out with my friend Kallik and for the last month he and I have been getting closer.”

“Is he a friend or boyfriend?” Kya asked, trying to get the full picture.

“I mean, we kissed and other things,” Su blushed, “but we’ve never actually gone out and we haven’t told any of our other friends.” The young earthbender pulled her knees to her chest, and stared intently at the steam coming from her tea cup. “I thought he loved me. I thought we were more than friends

“We ditched school yesterday and went to his place, he said he wanted to ask me something and I thought it was him wanting to become boyfriend and girlfriend but he didn’t.” Su looked up at the older woman, to find that her usual smile had turned into concern. “We were sitting on his couch, his parents weren’t home so we were making out and touching and then he asked me if I wanted to have sex.”

“Su,” Kya’s voice was dangerously low as she spoke, “did he force you into an-“

“Spirits no! Sheesh. Let me finish. I said yes to him. We went to his bedroom and we had sex. At least I think we did.”

Kya cocked an eyebrow. “You think you did?”

“Well, I mean, he,” Su blushed furiously, “he entered me but it was a tad uncomfortable and I read books where you’re meant to feel this amazing pleasure but I didn’t?”

“Is that why you’re upset? Because you didn’t orgasm?”

“No,” a shudder escaped Su’s throat as she continued, “I went to say hi to him today and he ignored me. He didn’t even look at me. I feel like such an idiot.”

“You’re not an idiot. You trusted someone with something special and they trampled all over it. That guy is nothing and he doesn’t deserve an amazing girl like you.”

Su looked up, a slight smile finally appeared. “You think I’m amazing?”

“Of course I do. And don’t worry about the sex, it can be awkward even for pros.”

“Really?

“Mhm.”

“So,” Su blushed for what seemed like the twentieth time that night, “what was your first time like?”

“Very awkward. I didn’t know what to do and neither did she. We spent our first few months together just experimenting and trying to find what we like.

Suyin picked up the mug and sipped it slowly. “So what happened to her?”

Kya sighed. “I just didn’t think she was the one. I loved her and I thought she could replace the feelings I had for Lin but I realised that wasn’t fair to her and it wasn’t fair to me. I loved my time with her. We had fun together, we learned so much from each other and it allowed me to grow as a person.

“I discovered that I wanted someone strong, and could take care of themselves, where I wouldn’t have to babysit them on a daily basis. They needed to be firm in their decision making, be street smart and book smart, and overall, they needed to respect me and my independence. I found that Lin had everything I wanted in someone, I’m just lucky it all worked out in the end.”

“I want a guy who is smart.” Su smiled, “I don’t want to wake up one day and discover we can’t have intelligent conversation.”

Kya smiled and placed a hand on the young earthbender’s knee. “That’s a start.” Kya swallowed the rest of her tea.

“Do you guys wanna do something with me tomorrow? Like a board game or something.”

“Su, I would love to, I honestly would but Lin and I are going to a hotel tomorrow night.”

“Oh, can I have a few friends over then?”

Kya thought for a moment before nodding. “Okay, but don’t tell Lin.”

“Please, she’s been the biggest party pooper lately, she’s starting to get on my nerves.”

“She’s just trying to look out for you. Cut her some.”

“It’s like she’s trying to be my mother. I already have one and I don’t want another.”

“Look, I’m not going to get into this with you right now. Just promise me that you won’t burn down the place.”

“I promise.”

* * *

 

Lin and Kya walked into the lobby of the Red Water Hotel. They sighed in relief when they felt the cool air meet their bodies. “That is so refreshing.”

“I know right?” Kya grasped Lin’s hand in her own and dragged her towards the check in desk to grab their room key. “Hi, we have a booking for misses Mononononopolis.”

The young man, who looked like he had no idea what he was doing behind the desk, gave Kya a queer look before giving her the key. “Room service is twenty four hours, and checkout is noon. Enjoy your stay at the Red Water Hotel.”

Once they were out of earshot, Lin leaned down to whisper in Kya’s ear. “Mononononopolis? Really?”

Kya shrugged. “I thought it would be funny.”

“How many times do I have to tell you, you’re not funny?”

“I am hilarious.” The waterbender lead them to the elevator and pressed the bottom for their level on the tenth floor. “Now, when we get up to our floor, can you promise me we aren’t going to walk into some sort of kidnapping gone wrong, or another drug bust? Because that can only happen twice before it gets old.”

“I promise none of that will happen.” Lin chuckled.

“See, I am funny.”

“Uh huh.” They entered the room and put their bags down on the floor next to the door before venturing further into the room to take it all in. The area was sparse. A bed sat against a wall to the right, giving those occupying it a view of the city though floor to ceiling windows. “This place has a better view than mum’s office.”

“It truly does. I think we have to give this one to Sayo, this was a good suggestion.”

“Mhm. We still have a few minutes before the full moon comes out, do you want to have a shower?”

“Way ahead of you.”

Lin turned around to see Kya’s retreating naked form enter the bathroom. The metalbender began to undress, trying not to fall over as she hopped on one foot in an effort to take off her shoes. She could hear the shower turn on. She pulled her shirt over her head and threw it into a random corner of the room, quickly followed by her pants and undergarments.

Lin entered the bathroom to find Kya completely submerged under the shower head, with her eyes closed, taking in the warm water. She opened the glass door and sighed when the hot water made contact with her body. “This pressure is amazing.”

“I know right. When we get our own place, I want one like this.”

Lin smiled and wrapped her arms around Kya’s waist from behind, pressing their bodies together. “Our own place?”

“Yeah, I mean, we’re making enough money since you got that promotion and I thought it would be nice to have our own place where we won’t have any interruptions, where we can do what we want, when we want.”

“I would like that. Though I would like to buy our own place in the future, at this point we would only be able to rent.”

“I’m glad you think that.” Kya turned around and placed a hand on the side of Lin’s face and stroked her cheek with her thumb gently. “Spirits I love you.”

“I love you too.”

“No, I _really_ love you. I love your green eyes, I love your black hair, I love how you always have to wear sunscreen otherwise you’ll get burnt in summer, I love it when you scowl at the tiniest annoyances, I love that you get flustered at the tiniest of sexual innuendos, I love that you like to watch the moon rise because you know it means that I’ll be safe. I love you Lin Beifong, and I always will.” She planted a full kiss on the speechless metalbender. “Spirits I love you.”

Lin’s expression softened but she remained silent as she picked up the wash cloth and lathered it up with the complimentary soap and she began to gently scrub away the day’s sweat from her lover’s body. She started with Kya’s collar bone and shoulders, making sure to place gentle kisses on every part she washed. She worked her way down one of Kya’s arms and rubbed, kissing every one of the waterbender’s finger tips.

“I love your hands. I know you think I love your legs but your hands, they’re my favourite things in the world. I thought that when I first touched them, they would be soft but they’re calloused like mine, it reminds me that we have something in common. It reminds me that you and I had to work to form our own identities away from our parents, but they’re also different from mine. They’re warm and they give life. You have saved so many people with them, and myself included. If you didn’t make the first move five years ago, I don’t know where I would be right now.

“I love you for saving me, thank you Kya.” Lin closed the gap between them and pushed Kya up against the wall and captured the dark lips with her pink ones. Her tongue ran the inside of Kya’s bottom lip, swallowing the moan that emanated from the waterbender but found herself being pushed away by Kya gently. “Did I do something wrong?”

“Spirits, no. you did everything right. I just wanted to spend this time discovering each other. I want to study your body, the scars, the little freckles, the skin tags. I want to know your body better than you do.”

Lin opened her mouth to say something but thought better of it as she allowed her girlfriend to run her light fingertips over her body, watching as they trailed over every curvature of muscle, stopping every now and then when she found a small, yet discrete bump.

“This one is new.”

“Hmm?”

“You have a scar between rib six and seven, I never noticed it until now.”

“Huh, I don’t remember exactly what it’s from. I think it happened when I was a kid.”

Kya leaned down and gave it a small kiss. “I’ll have to ask Toph when she gets back.”

“Good luck with that.” Lin snorted.

Kya stood upright and gave Lin a smoulder.  Before Lin knew what was happening, she had her back against the cool wall of the shower and hands were on her thighs, lifting them higher until they were wrapped around the waterbender’s waist. Hot lips were kissing her collar bone, sucking harshly as to leave big red marks in their wake.

Lin loved nights like these, when the full moon was out, Kya took charge and became assertive. It was a nice change in pace from all the nights Lin was on top. Kya turned off the water and exited the shower, with Lin still in her arms.

“Kya, we need to dry off.”

Kya growled and slammed Lin into a wall. The waterbender bent her head to capture a dusky pink nipple in her mouth and bit down just hard enough to make the metalbender gasp, then let go. “Shut up Lin.”

Lin could feel her heart in her throat. Spirits she loved nights like these.

Kya walked them to the end of the bed and dropped Lin on her back in the centre.

From her position on her back, Lin could truly appreciate how strong the waterbender really was. She realised that Kya had a similar physique to her own. She was tall, had the same broad shoulders, her muscles were as defined like the metalbender’s but her breasts were a tad bigger than her own, fuller. Sure, Lin was stronger but Kya did give her a good run for her money. They shared these same traits, yet Lin was left to marvel at how Kya was able to carry herself in a more feminine way compared to herself.

Lin tried to sit up when Kya’s head disappeared below her waist. “What? No foreplay first?”

“No. now lay back down so I can concentrate. I’ve never done this before.”

Lin sighed but did as she was told. “Can you even blood bend?”

“Not sure. Promise you won’t arrest me if I get this wrong?”

“How about I cuff your arms to the bed if you fuck this up?”

“Uh-huh” Kya took a deep breath as she pulled back her lover’s cliterous hood to expose the little bud to the cool air. Kya held her free hand above Lin’s crotch and flexed her hand before bringing her finger tips together as though she were stroking the air. Before she knew it the bud doubled in size. She stopped her ministrations to look up at Lin’s face which was currently screwed up. “You okay?”

“Spirits yes! This is amazing.”

Kya shuffled down the bed and brought her head down to the bud, she let her tongue gently touch the little cluster of nerves and was met with a loud moan that she had never heard before. She was about to take Lin in her mouth again but before she could even touch her, the metalbender’s hips rose off the bed in search of friction.

Kya pulled back and placed her arms on Lin’s thighs, forcing them back down onto the bed, she then leaned down and began to stroke the bud with her tongue. A few moments later she could hear grunts of pleasure. Her blue eyes looked up as she continued her actions, to find that the metalbender’s back had arched off the bed, her hands had grasped the sheets, making her muscles flex in an amazing display and a small puddle of sweat had formed underneath her. Suddenly the officer’s whole body tensed and she came.

Kya sat back on her feet and watched as Lin’s body writhed in pleasure for a minute and then settled back down onto the mattress. “Spirits,” Lin took deep breathes to calm herself down, “that was the best sex I’ve ever had.”

Kya smirked as she crawled up her lover’s body and then lowered herself down to rest on top of her. “I enjoyed watching it. How do you feel?”

“Amazing. I thought the blood bending would hurt but it was the best part.”

“I’m just glad it went according to plan. I’m a tad hungry though.”

“Room service?”

Kya picked up the receiver on the bedside table and was suddenly talking with the boy from the front desk.

 _“Concierge.”_ His voice cracked.

“Yes, can we get two fruit tarts and some Soba noodles to room ten-o-four?”

“ _Yes miss. It will be up in ten minutes.”_

Kya looked down into Lin’s emerald eyes. “Ten minutes?”

_“Yes miss. Can I help you with anything else?”_

“No thank you.” She hung up the receiver with a click. “What can we do for Ten minutes?”

“I have something we could do.” Lin slid from underneath her girlfriend and went to the bag she dropped at the door. She bent down and pulled out a square piece of steel.

Kya watched from her position on the bed. Lin’s hand hovered over the cold piece of refined earth, as it was contorted into a phallus shape. “Spirits yes!” She rose up on her knees, eyes wide.

Lin walked back to the bed and joined her girlfriend. “Do you want me to use it on you first or do you want to do me?”

“Oh I definitely want you to use it on me.”

“Alright then.” Lin worked her way behind the waterbender and manoeuvred them so they were both kneeling in front of the head board.  Lin ran her free hand down the side of Kya’s body to cup her left breast, enjoying the softness of her dark skin, while the other ran up the inside of Kya’s quivering thigh. She bought the tip of the steel to Kya’s entrance when a shrill ring from the phone caused them to jump apart.

“Maybe it’s the concierge desk.” Kya shrugged

“Maybe.” Lin stood up from the bed and picked up the phone. “Hello?”

“ _Is this miss Mononononopolis_?”

“Sayo?”

“ _Spirits Lin, can you next time just use your real name? That poor guy they have at the desk sounded like he was having a seizure trying to pronounce your name.”_

 _“_ What do you want officer Sayo?”

“ _Okay, seriousness, I thought I should warn you that the riot squad is about to move out.”_

“And?”

“ _The address is the Chief’s. We’ve had complaints of a wild party from various neighbours, with reports that kids are on the street, cactus juice is being consumed, and they’re swimming in the pool. I don’t need to tell you what a dangerous combination that is. Also, we’ve had a couple of people say there is a person wearing a metalbender’s uniform doing party tricks.”_

 _“_ I’m on my way.” Lin slammed down the phone and went to retrieve the clothes she had thrown around the room. “We need to get home, now.”

Kya sighed but began to get dressed. “I’m going to kill you Su.” She muttered under her breath.


	5. Chapter 5

 

Kya and Lin ran behind the brick wall of the Beifong family home and knelt down so they could collect their thoughts. “Use your seismic sense and locate Su, we need to grab her before the force does.”

“What?! We should let her be taken. It might teach her a lesson.”

“As much as I would love to see that happen, Toph would kill us and the press will destroy yours _and_ the Chief’s career. You grab Su, I’ll clear the pool water over the wall and kill the music.”

Lin growled but did as she was told. Removing her shoes, she placed them beside a bush along with their bags and then slammed a foot on the ground.

Before Kya knew what was happening, a pillar of earth launched her into the air and she came to land softly next to the large body of water, which was occupied with screaming teens, some of which were half nude and most likely drunk. She stood upright and watched as Lin dove into the pool, then resurface with a limp body in her arms.

Lin made it to the edge of the pool, dodging various body parts of hormone driven teens. “He’s not breathing.”

Kya rushed over and hoisted the boy out of the pool and laid him on his back onto the ground. She hovered a hand over his chest and felt for the water in his lungs. “Get ready to start compressions.”

Lin placed her hands, one over the other, and put them just to the left of the man’s lower sternum. Once she saw the water exit his mouth, she began pressing down furiously, stopping on every thirtieth compression to allow Kya to breathe into his mouth. On the fifth set, the boy coughed and was immediately rolled onto his side to throw up.

“Take it easy kid.” Lin stared up at Kya, her face set in a scowl. “I’m ending this. These fuckers have gone too far. They don’t even realise we just saved this kid from death.”

Kya looked around them to see that people were still dancing and not one had stopped to offer assistance or even glance in their direction. “Get Su. I’ve got the pool.”

Lin nodded and ran off towards the home.

Kya stood protectively over the young man, who was shivering on the floor in a curled up ball, she raised her arms above her head and swayed them back and forth for a moment to build up the momentum of the water, then threw her arms towards the brick wall, directing the water where she wanted it to go. She watched as the kids who had just been swimming, scrambled out of the now empty pool, with a few of them desperately trying to find their clothes.

She knelt back down and took the boy’s head into her warm hands. “What’s your name?”

“Ba- Baatar. Spirits, it- it’s cold.”

She held a finger in front of his eyes and moved it from side to side and up and down. “Do you remember what happened Baatar?”

Baatar followed her finger with his pupils as tears pricked the corner of his eyes. “I, I told them I couldn’t swim. I begged them not to throw me in but they didn’t listen. I tried yelling for my friend to help me but before I knew it, I was under water and my lungs were burning.” He looked up at the waterbender but his eyes seemed a little unfocused. “Did I die?”

“Don’t worry about that now.” Kya held a hand over Baatar’s body and clenched her fist to slowly raise the temperature of the water still clinging to his clothes. “Don’t fall asleep on me, we’re going to get you to a hospital.”

“I don’t want to die.”

* * *

 

Lin found herself in somewhat of a mosh pit in the family living room. She had guessed the crowd to be in excess of a hundred kids and it was clear they all had something to drink or inhale. Her body was taking hit after hit as elbows and shoulders made contact with her solid body. Her sharp eyes scanned the crowd in search for her sister, when she heard a voice coming from outside.

“Republic City Police, disperse immediately!”

“Fuck.” Lin slammed her foot onto the floor again and growled at what she saw. She pushed her way through the crowd of teens, who ignored her subordinate’s orders and had chosen to somehow crank up the music louder, until she was standing outside her own bedroom door, which had Su’s school uniform sash tied around the knob.

The metalbender pushed open the door with force, splitting the teens on top of her bed apart. Su was sprawled out on the duvet with a bottle of booze in her hand and a young boy laying between her legs, nuzzling her neck, yet somehow, that wasn’t what irked the older sister. “Take off, my, uniform.”

“Who’s dis chick?” The clearly drunk boy asked Su.

“My controlling sister. Go away Deputy Beifuck.”

“Oh the freak,” Lin’s chest tightened at his words, “you know, I’m not into the whole gay angle but I think getting it on with two sisters would be an awesome story.”

Lin took two quick steps to the bed, grabbed him by the scruff of his shirt and forced him to the window before pushing him out head first. “Go home, before I arrest you.”

“What about my pants!?”

“Call it payment for the fine you’re dodging.” Lin shut the window and turned to face her sister who was currently on the floor and crawling on her hands and knees, clearly about to pass out. Taking a deep breath, Lin swallowed the urge to berate her sister, choosing a softer tone than her usual bluntness.  “Come on kid, let’s get you out of here.”

Feeling arms on her shoulders, Suyin panicked and blindly tried to push them away, causing her to roll onto her back with a groan. “Ngh, get away from me!”

“Su, the police are here, so unless you want to end up in jail, stand up and let’s go.”

“Can you not?”

“Not what?”

“Be so controlling?”

Lin rolled her eyes. She knelt down and took hold of one of Su’s arms and slung it over shoulder, followed with the rest of her body as she stood. The metalbender had barely managed to take three steps when she heard an unplesent sound come from her sister’s mouth, followed by something wet running down her bare shoulder. “Kill her later Lin. Kya promised you can kill her later.” She muttered under her breath.

“Why do you have to ruin everything?”

“Hey, I was here first, you’re the one who came along and ruined everything.”

“Fuck you!”

Lin pulled open her bedroom door. The lounge room was now vacant, save for two teens who were slow dancing to fast paced music, however it seemed like they were more or less holding eachother up. Lin raised the needle off the record, cutting the music dead.

“No, fuck you Suyin. Kya and I have been nothing but kind to you, helping you with homework, taking you out to dinner, buying clothes you wanted and picking you up when you’re drunk in the middle of the city.” Lin felt her sister flinch. “Yeah, Kya told me about that one.”

“She promised she wouldn’t.”

“We don’t keep secrets in our relationship. And how do you thank us? By nearly fucking some guy in _our_ bed, wearing _my_ uniform. I know you aren’t a fan of mum and I being cops but what better way to say ‘fuck you,’ to the Beifong family, by dishonering the badge that has kept you fed, dressed, safe and a roof over your head since the day you were born.”

“Fuck you.”

“Yeah, just keep saying that.” They were now outside. Lin located Kya, who was still with the boy that had drowned and walked over to her. “I have Su.” The pool was empty, the backyard divoid of people, but the evidence of a party was still there, the empty cups, the clothes, the cigaret butts, it was all still there. Lin leaned back and let go of her sister, dropping her on her back.

“Son of a bitch.”

“Nah, I’m a sister of a bitch.”

“That’s not funny.”

“It wasn’t meant to be, it’s a fact.”

Kya looked down at the young earthbender and frowned. “Toph is going to kill her.”

“I’ll get the fire flakes.” Lin began prying each piece of the distorted metal away from the teen’s body. “This is going to take me forever to fix.”

“Deputy.”

The two women looked up to see Sayo walking towards them, her helmet in her hand. “What’s the damage Sayo?”

“Thirty arrests, four are on their way to the hospital with alcohol poisoning, we’re waiting on one more ambulance for the kid here, the collateral damage is probably twenty thousand yuans but that’s just a rough guess. Two of our officers have cuts from rocks and bottles being thrown at them.”

Lin put her hands to her face, hoping it would alleviate some of the stress she was feeling. “Kya, I need to go in and help with processing and calling a lot of angry parents. Sayo, obviously, we will pay for the damage.”

Kya gave her girlfriend a nod and watched as she left the backyard, her broken armour in her hand.

“Umm, sorry but who is she?”

Kya looked down to see Baatar staring at the passed out teen. “She is whose party this is.”

“She’s beautiful.”

Suyin’s body convulsed before throwing up to the side.

“Yep, she sure is.”

* * *

 

“Toph, I thought we were going straight to your home to see the girls.”

“We are mum.” The ostrich horse carriage came to a stop and Toph threw open the door before the valet could. “I thought you and dad might like to see where I work.”

“Toph, your mother and I have already seen where you work.” Lao Beifong held his hand out for his wife, helping her out onto the street.

Sokka came up behind the elderly man, and placed a firm hand on his shoulder. “Sorry mister Beifong, Toph doesn’t like to admit it, but she is secretly a control freak.”

Lao shrugged off his hand and gave him a glare. “So why do Poppy and I have to be here then? It’s hot, and your mother and I are tired.”

“Dad, you wanted to see the girls, Lin is here, so I thought we could grab her, then head home and grab Su then go out for dinner. And if you get to see my new statue in the process, then there’s no foul.”

Toph led the way inside, smiling when she felt her parent’s heart rate increase at the sight of her larger than life statue. “Still not as good as the real deal but I like it.” Toph gave the officer at the front desk a lazy wave before going to the stairs. “Sorry about all the stairs, Sokka is working on fixing that.”

Sokka jogged up between the two older Beifongs. “I found a guy who figured out a way to use hydraulics to lift a steel box up and down. He calls it an Elevator. It’s going through the last tests and within a few months, we’ll start the instalation pro-“

“What do you mean there’s nothing we can do?!”

The sudden shouting stopped Sokka from talking more about the new invention he was involved in.

“I mean just that!” Lin stood in the middle of fifteen officers, trying to defuse the rising tension. “There is nothing we can do.”

“We found drugs on every one of those teens!”

“Yeah, it was minimal and not enough for a prison term. We would waste too much of taxpayers money getting a conviction which a judge will most likely dismiss because they are all first offenders.”

“Oh sure! What about the two officers they hurt?!”

“Those two kids have already seen the judge and were given community service, starting with the clean-up of the streets they vandalised.”

“That’s fucked!”

“Nepotism at its finest guys! Everyone gets off including the ring leader.”

Lin looked over at Sayo for help but all she got was a shrug. She was about to talk again, when her mother’s loud voice cut through the shouting.

“What was that about nepotism?” Silence washed over the room. “Please continue officer Qui.” Toph walked forward so she was standing toe to toe with the young officer. Even without her armour, she was still intimidating with her dead eyes. “Are you trying to insinuate, that there is favourtism in my squad?”

“N-no Chief.”

“Good. Now I’m sure there are cases that need to be solved and beats that need to be hit.” There was a moment of stillness before everyone went back to their jobs. “Deputy Beifong, my office, now. Sokka go show my parents the command room or something.”

They barely made it to the hallway when Poppy tugged at her husband’s shirt. “Lao, why don’t you go with Sokka, I’m going to see if I can help.”

Lao nodded, allowing his wife to head in the direction of their daughter’s office and step inside.

Poppy found her grandaughter standing upright while Toph stood behind her desk. “I thought I told Sokka to take you and dad for a tour of the building.”

“I thought I could be of use here.” Poppy took a seat. “What was all that about out there?”

“Lin was just about to fill me in on that.”

Lin chose a spot on the wall and focused on it, not wanting to look her grandmother in the eye. “Kya and I went out last night, leaving Su alone.”

“Kya? The Avatar’s daughter?”

Lin ignored the question, not yet ready to open that can of worms. “We recieved a call from Sayo that they had been called in to disperse a party at our home. Kya and I made it before them and we emptied the pool. I found Su with a guy in mine and K- My room. I stopped it before it went further.”

Toph walked around her desk and tapped Lin on her chest plate. “What happened to your uniform? It’s all warped.”

“...Su wore it. There is a report of someone in a metalbending officer’s uniform doing party tricks on the roof.”

“You smell.”

“Su threw up on me.”

“What else?” Toph’s brow furrowed, knowing her daughter was hiding something from her. “What happened, Lin?”

“We, Kya and I, we had to revive a guy I had pulled from the bottom of the pool.”

“I take it he survived?”

“He did. He’s currently in the hospital, I’ve asked to be kept updated on his condition, from what I’ve been told, he should make a full recovery.”

“You look tired.” Poppy stood up and brushed a thumb under the young officer’s eyes, coming to rest on her sweaty cheek. “How long has it been since you last slept?”

“Thirty six hours.” Lin took hold of her grandmother’s hand and let it drop to the side to resume her professional stance, with her hands clasped behind her back.

“Toph, what are you thinking sweety?”

The Chief looked in her mother’s general direction. “I dunno. I honestly don’t know what to do at this point. Both of my daughter’s are in pain and I don’t know what to do.”

“Toph, maybe we should do what we talked about.”

Lin looked between her mother and grandmother. “What are you two talking about? Did I do something wrong?”

“Lin, as far as i can tell,” Toph began, “you did everthing right. As a _Deputy_ , you did everything wrong though and unfortunitely it’s going to take a while to get your respect back from your fellow officers. But you did right by your sister. We need to talk to Suyin about last night.”

“I need to finish up here Chief.”

“No, you’re done for the day. Come back tomorrow after you get some sleep.”

Lin gave her mother a curt nod, secretly happy to be going home to bed.

* * *

 

Suyin woke up in her own bed with a groan. Her head was swimming, her throat was dry and tasted like bile. Suyin rolled over, and stared out her window, to find that the sun was setting. _What!_ She asked herself.  _I lost a whole day?! What the fuck happened?_  Suyin sat up and began piecing the night’s events together.  _I invited a few people over, then they invited one or two then a few more showed up with beer, then more people, probably forty in total so we started swimming, then loud music started playing. Spirits! I forgot the lillyweed, damn it Fen, I am going to murder you._

 _Okay, I had beer and some weed, and then I started dancing. Oh shit! Lin’s armour. I remember struggling with it. How do she and mum make it look so easy? Lin’s going to kill me if I don’t put it back. Wait, Lin! That bitch!_ Su scowled as she got out of bed, and onto shaky legs. She was dressed in pyjamas instead of the tank and shorts she had been wearing the night before. Su put on a clean pair of shorts and a loose yellow blouse that cut off at her shoulders.

Pulling open her bedroom door, Su could hear voices at the front door, one of them belonging to an angry waterbender and two others she couldn’t place.

“I told you,  _she_  is sleeping, now go home before I call the cops.”

“Come on babe, why would you call your dogs on us? We just wanna see if Su is okay.”

“Yeah.” Another voice. “We got this new truck and we thought she may want to go for a ride.”

Su peaked down the hall to see two of her friends outside.  _Kallik and Baju._

“I told you both to leave.”

“Whatever freak. Let’s go Baju.” Kallik turned with Baju in tow and headed towards their truck, the front door slamming behind them.

“Why did you send them away?!”

Kya spun around at the sound of Suyin’s voice. “Why do you think?! I’m not going to let you go out with those delinquents.”

“They’re my friends! You’ve got no right to tell me who I can and can’t hang out with.” Su attempted to push her way past the waterbender, hoping she could still meet up with her friends, but a hand on her chest pushed her back. “Get out of my way.”

“I’m not letting you go anywhere, not until Toph gets back.”

Su let out a growl and slammed her foot into the ground, causing a pillar to rise from the hallway floor and collide with the waterbender’s back, catching her off guard.

Kya had no way of catching herself as she hit the glass sliding door that led to the backyard, and went straight through it, head first. Kya sat up slowly to survey the damage around her. Glass was everywhere, with a few pieces embedded into her cheek and the young earthbender was storming towards her. “Su, this is not going to end well for anyone, stop.”

“Stop telling me what to do!” Su kicked the ground again as Kya had just managed to get onto all fours, sending a pillar into the older woman’s chest.

Kya could hear the familiar cracks of bone fracturing, heck she could feel it. She came to stop on her back at the bottom of the empty pool. Spirits she wished it was still full of water. Kya opened her eyes to see a rock coming out of the sky. She quickly back flipped and stumbled unsteadily onto her feet and into a fighting position, albeit a weak one.

Suyin jumped into the pool, a scowl so much like her sister’s on her face. “Why can’t you guys just let me do what I want? Mum does. Mum doesn’t care what I do.”

“Because _we_ care.” A rock was thrown at her head for her efforts and she had barely managed to dodge it.

“Oh yeah, you guys really care. You and Lin ignore me unless I come to you.”

“Whose fault is that?! We tried to talk to you for years but you kept telling us to fuck off, so we gave you your space and did you thank us? Oh that’s right, you threw a party and the police had to get involved. Lin and I had to prevent you from being sent to prison and I can guarantee you, your mum’s officers would love nothing more right now than to do just that.”

Su flexed her hands out to the ground, causing the earth to rumble. Slowly, she raised her arms up and little pebbles followed suit. The young earthbender was about to send them flying at the injured woman when a steel cable found itself wrapped around her wrist, making the bits of earth fall down to the ground.

Reflexes kicked in and she contorted the steel bracelet around her free wrist into a blade and cut clean through the offending piece of refined earth. A scream unlike anything she had ever heard resounded throughout the backyard.

“Su!”

The young earthbender’s blood went cold. She slowly turned away from the Waterbender to see her sister clutching her face with blood coming out of her mouth. Her uncle Sokka, someone whose approval she craved, was trying to get a look at the damage but Lin wasn’t letting go. To top it all off, her mother stood with Poppy and Lao Beifong, both of whom were wide eyed at what they had just witnessed.

Su couldn’t move as she watched Kya run past her and struggle to pull herself out of the pool, however she succeeded and she was soon at her sister’s side.

“Lin.” Kya took hold of Lin’s hands, making the earthbender stare up at her from her hunched over position, with panicked eyes. “Let me look, I can help you.”

Lin removed her shaky hands, which were covered in blood, to reveal two perfect parallel lines running down the side of her face. Kya’s breath hitched in her throat. She could see the bone of Lin’s jaw and cheek bone but nothing compared to seeing straight through the cuts and into the earthbender’s mouth. “Spirits. Uncle Sokka, help me get her inside. I need to get some water and call mum, I need some help myself.”

Suyin was left behind with her mother and grandparents. She watched as her mother strolled casually towards her with an expressionless face. Toph jumped into the pool and walked up to her youngest daughter. “Mum, I-“ A slap echoed throughout the pool.

“When I popped by my office to show my parents everything I had done, do you know what I saw?” Silence. “I saw your sister being yelled at by her fellow officers, HER SUBORDINATES! Could you imagine what I was told when I asked Lin what had happened? A party gone wild at  _my_ home. Teens who had been drinking cactus juice. Teens who had been smoking lillyweed illegally. _Teens_  who were running around town half naked brawling in the streets.  _Teens_  hurling abuse at police. Throwing rocks and bottles, in an effort to hurt the people _I_ have trained.

“You have no idea how lucky you are that Lin and Kya arrived when they did or you would be behind bars right now with your little friends, but not for drinking, or impersonating an officer, oh no, but for careless endangerment resulting in death. Lin and Kya had to revive a boy who had _drowned_ at the bottom of this damn pool.”

“Mum I-“

“Shut up.” Toph placed a hand on the back of Su’s neck and marched her towards the edge of the pool and raised them out on a pillar of earth.

Su found herself standing in front of her grandparents who hadn’t moved from earlier. “Grandmother, grandfather.”

“You are going to apologise to my parents for embarrassing the Beifong family.”

“I’m sorry for bringing shame onto our family.”Suyin bowed deeply.

“Now get your ass into my home, which you destroyed, and plant it on my couch. You will not speak, you will not move, you won’t so much as sneeze without my say so. Do you understand?”

“Yes mother.”

Toph led the way inside through the broken door, navigating around glass, only to slip a little when her foot made contact with something wet. “That was blood, wasn’t it?” Her question, rhetorical, went unanswered. “Mum, dad, do you want me to take you to a hotel, or do you still want to stay here?”

Lao walked past his daughter and into the kitchen where his eldest granddaughter was seated, with tears sliding down her cheeks while a waterbender tried desperately to heal the wound.

“I’ll take that as you guys staying here.” Toph let out a puff of air, blowing her bangs out of her face. She walked behind her fellow officer and placed hands on her steel clad shoulders. “It’s gonna be okay badgermole.”

“No it not.” The words came out mumbled due to healing water filling the inside wall of her cheek. “It goin to sca.”

“Lin, please don’t talk, you’re making this more difficult than it needs to be.”

“Hey Kya,” Sokka started, “do you want me to get your medical kit? You’re gonna need some antiseptic.”

“That would be amazing,” the waterbender sighed, “but it was stolen last night.”

“That’s fucked!”

“Could you go buy me some Sokka? Also some bandages.”

“Of course, your mum is on her way, just so you know.”

“Thanks.”

Toph took a seat at the head of the table and propped her feet up on the timber. “Okay mum and dad, you win.”

“Toph, I think you’re making the right choice.” Lao took his wife’s hand in his and gave her a weak smile. “Your mother and I will do our best for her.”

“What are you guys talking about?” Kya had split her attention between healing her girlfriend’s face and the conversation going on across the table.

Toph sighed. “There was a hidden agenda when I went to visit my parents. I went there to get advice on what to do with Su and they suggested I send her to Gao Ling to live with them.”

“What?! You can’t be serious!”

“Kya, this is the only way.”

“How about quitting your job and actually giving her the attention she needs.”

“I can’t do that and you even suggesting I do so is just stupid. Su will go to live with my parents and that’s the end of it.”

Kya looked down at Lin, her eyes pleading. “Say something.”

“Ike wha?” Lin half managed to mumble out.

“Tell her no.”

“Ou see mi fass righ? I couln’ car less.”

“She’s your sister.”

Lin avertered her gaze. “Is da righ ting.”

“You two are unbelievable this is your family and you all want to split it up.”

The front door opened and in walked Aang and Katara. “Sorry, did we interrupt something?” Asked Aang from the hallway.

Kya withdrew the water from her girlfriend’s face and dropped it on her head. “Nope. I’ve done what I can, dad, you can finish up.” She stood up with force, pushing the chair back a good meter. She held onto her chest and made her way to her bedroom “Mum, I could use some healing.”

“Of course sweetie.” Katara’s eyes darted between the Lin and Kya, trying to convey a message to her husband. “Aang, you’ve got this handled, _right_?”

Aang looked between his daughter and Lin, and raised an eyebrow. “Uh yeah?” He took Kya’s seat and scootched closer to Lin to get a better look.

“It’s gonna scar, isn’t it?”

“Umm, I can’t really say, I’m not the best healer compared to Katara, but it doesn’t look good.” Aang removed the bloodied water from Lin’s head and reapplied it to her hace until it began to glow again. “What happened? We didn’t get any info from Sokka.”

* * *

 

“She wants to send her daughter away! That’s insane right?!” Kya stood in the middle of her bedroom, with her mother standing awkwardly near the dresser. “Mum, your over opinionated speech would be great right now.”

“All I said was ‘how are you,’ I don’t exactly have speeches ready to go. Can you just get undressed so I can begin healing you, and then we can talk?”

Kya mumbled under her breath as she pulled the loose blue shirt over her head. “Happy?”

“No!” Katara ran a hand over her daughter’s collar bone. “What did Su do to you?!”

Kya blushed as she lay down on the bed, glad she didn’t have to remove her bindings, due to the embarassing blemishes she had adorning her breasts. “Yeah, they’re not from Su.” She looked away, not wanting to see her mother’s reaction.

“Lin doesn’t seem like the type.” Katara removed the water from her hip flask and pressed it to her Kya’s sternum.

Kya cocked an eyebrow, now intrigued by her mother’s comment. “What type _does_ she look like?”

Katara shrugged. “Don’t know, I guess nails?”

“Nails?”

“Yeah, I thought she would like leaving scratch marks on you. It seems like a Beifong thing.”

“This is why I don’t talk to you about these things.”

“It’s only natural for women to talk about their sex lives.”

“Yeah, women, not mother and daughter.”

“Oh come on,” Katara chuckled, “just pretend I’m not your mother. Besides, it will take your mind off the pain and the stuff with Su.”

Kya groaned. “I’d rather talk about Su than mine and Lin’s physical life.”

Katara relented. “Okay, but sweetie, you have to remember Su is Toph’s daughter and I’ve known Toph since she was tweleve, she has always been level headed and thinks things through. If Toph is sending Su to live with her parents, she must think it’s the right thing to do.”

“How can you agree with that? They’re sending her away like she’s a disease instead of helping her.”

“Kya, you and Lin have tried to help her and be her friend, at the end of the day, Su clearly doesn’t want your help and it took her hurting both of you to hammer that home. Stop trying to fix everything and let someone else try.”

Kya was about to argue more when the door gently opened and Lin entered with her cheek bandaged. “I only came in to get dressed, sorry to interrupt.”

It was an awkward silence as the metalbender began to remove her vambraces and shoulder pads with practised experience, soon followed by her warped chest plate, leaving her clad in her long green sleeved shirt and pants.

“Lin, has Su said anything to you?” Asked Kya from her spot on the bed.

“No.” Lin kept her head down as she fished out a clean tank top and a pair of shorts from the dresser next to the window.

“Have you talked to her?”

“No.”

“Lin, look at me.” Kya noticed Lin’s back tense as she slowly raised her head from their dresser to reveal eyes brimming with tears about to fall. “Mum, can we have the room for a second?”

Katara nodded and silently left the room.

“Lin, come here.”

Lin silently dragged her feet as she made her way to the bed and sat down on the edge, facing away from her partner. “I am just so tired of all this Kya.”

“I take it work didn’t go well.”

“Are you kidding me? You have no idea what it’s like to be yelled at by a room filled with officers while you defend someone who less than an hour later, does this.” Lin gestured to her bandaged cheek. “On top of that, my grandparents are here and they have no idea about you and I and I’m just stressed. It doesn’t help that you’re angry at me either.”

“Lin, I’m not angry at you, just disappointed.”

“Is that meant to be better?”

“I was hoping you would back me up out there.”

“I don’t think that’s how this is meant to work. Just because you were first to say your opinion, doesn’t mean I should blindly agree. Su needs structure and she isn’t going to get it here. Gao Ling is in the country, away from drugs, violence and alcohol. My grandparents practically own the whole state and no one will give Su special treatment. On top of that, they have guards to keep her on point and access to some of the best teachers. I truly believe this will be good for her.”

“I know you do but I don’t see it that way. It just seems wrong to me and I can’t shake the feeling. You’re basically taking everything and everyone she knows away. She will have to go to a place where she knows no one and there isn’t a lot to do in Gao Ling.”

“Is that seriously your only problem!?” Lin stood up with hands clenched in tight fists, her knuckles turning white. “You’re worried she will be bored and have no friends?!”

“Li-“

“She’s scarred me on my fucking face! She’s gotten away with drugs, underage drinking, throwing a party resulting in a riot, which nearly caused someone to die! And all you’re worried about is her fucking social life?! How about you actually look at yourself and what she’s done to you, she’s broken your ribs, you have glass embedded in your face and who knows what she did to your back.”

Kya flinched and recoiled at the tone of Lin’s voice. She had never been yelled at by her in the past.

Lin noticed this and sighed, forcing herself to relax. She grabbed her tank top and shorts from the dresser before heading to the door. “I’m going to sleep on the couch. Night.”

The door closed, leaving Kya alone with an uneasy pit in her stomach.

* * *

 

Lin entered the lounge room and realised that something was off. She looked to the kitchen where her mother, Aang and grandparents sat, Sokka must have left a few minutes ago and then it hit her, Su was gone. She stormed into the kitchen, still in her bindings and pants, the anger boiling inside of her again. “Where’s Su?”

Toph quickly dropped a foot to the ground, and her face instantly contorted into anger. “She’s gone.”

“Let’s go find her.”

Aang stood in Lin’s path, preventing her from leaving. “Lin, I don’t think that’s wise.”

“I don’t care what you think.”

Aang cocked a disapproving eyebrow. “Excuse me?”

“Sorry, that came out more harshly than I wanted it to.”

“It’s fine. Lin, I know you want to go after her but I think she just needs a little space to think about what she’s done.”

“You don’t know that. She could be out there committing crimes right now.”

Aang placed a gentle hand on her shoulder and directed her to the couch, which had a tear in one of the cushions, and sat down. “Lin, just trust me on this. Nothing good happens when you’re tired and angry. Su will come back, I know she will. She just needs a few quiet hours to herself.”

“I’m not tired, I’m fine.” Lin tried to stand but Aang kept a firm hand on her shoulder.

“Your eyes are blood shot, you have the biggest bags under your eyes I’ve ever seen. And I can tell you’re trying to stifle a yawn right now. Just lie down and close your eyes, you will thank me when you wake up.”

Lin mumbled a few swears under her breath as she let the clothes in her hands drop to the side, choosing to lay down on the couch in her bindings and work pants.

Aang patted her on the thigh and stood. “Sleep tight Deputy.”

“Night Aang.”

* * *

 

Su gently pushed open the front door, holding down the handle as she closed it behind her, making sure it didn’t make so much as a click. She walked the few steps from the hall into the lounge room to see her sister fidgeting on the couch, moaning slightly while sweat formed on her brow. “Lin?” Su whispered quietly. She approached her sister slowly until she was standing above her. Su frowned when Lin threw her head to the side, revealing bandages on her cheek. “Lin?” The young earthbender tentatively reached a hand out towards the officer but just as she got within millimetres of her face, a hand gripped hers tightly, resulting in her jumping in fright.

“What are you doing?”

“Mum?! Spirits, you scared me.”

“Keep your voice down. Everyone is asleep.” Toph released her daughter’s hand. “Where have you been? It’s one in the morning.”

“I- I went to the hospital.”

“What? Why?”

“To see Baatar”

Toph placed her palm to her forehead. “Who the fuck is Baatar?”

“He was the guy who drowned.” Su looked down at her shoes. “I wanted to see if he was okay and say sorry.”

“You could have left a note or told me.”

“I didn’t know if you would say yes and I needed to see that he was okay. I didn’t know what happened until you told me. Mum, I am so sorry, for everything.”

“I don’t think it’s me you need to apologise to.” Toph gestured, with a wave, to her eldest daughter fidgeting on the couch.

“What’s wrong with her?”

“I’m guessing a nightmare.” Toph placed a cool, calming hand to Lin’s sweaty forehead and in a matter of seconds, Lin’s breath had slowed and she stopped twitching. “She’ll be fine.”

“Why isn’t she sleeping with Kya?”

“They had a fight, so Lin’s sleeping on the couch.”

“About me?”

“Kya has a big heart and wants to help everyone, Lin learned you can’t help everyone.”

Su began to cry, trying to muffle her voice with her palm. “I didn’t mea-“

“That’s the thing, you never _mean_ for these things to happen but when they do, you cut and run leaving your sister to clean up your mess, and that’s why I’ve decided that you’re going to live with your grandparents until you graduate high school.”

Su looked up at the ceiling, willing the tears to stop. “Okay.”

“Okay? That was easier than I thought it was going to be.”

“I heard you talking about it earlier and talking to Baatar about it made it easier. He lives in Gao Ling so at least I’ll know someone when I go there.”

“That’s good. Grandpa has some business in the city so you are to remain here until it’s time to leave next week.”

“That’s fair. Can I go to bed?”

“Yeah. Your grandparents are sleeping in your room so you are going to bunk with me.”

Suyin resisted the urge to groan. “I’m going to brush my teeth.”

“Yeah, just keep the noise down.” Toph waited until Su was in the bathroom before kneeling down and running a hand through Lin’s sweaty hair. “I know you’re awake, I can feel your heartbeat.”

“It took all I had not to lunge at her.”

“I know. But at least it finally appears she’s taking responsibility for her actions.”

“Hmph.”

The two fell into a comfortable silence, only broken when Su emerged from the bathroom. “Are you coming mum?”

“I’ll be there in a minute.” Toph continued to stroke Lin’s hair as she kept a hush tone. “What was your dream about?” Lin stiffened. “Sorry, you were twitching and moaning, I only thought you may want to talk about it.”

“Maybe another time.”

“Alright, perhaps tomorrow.” Toph kissed her forehead and stood up, allowing her hand to linger. “Night Badgermole.”

“Night Chief.”


End file.
